Sardar Kirpal Singh Chak Sherewala

Sardar Kirpal Singh Chak Sherewala was president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) from 11 March to 2 October 1962, the months in which the Akali Dal split between Master Tara Singh and Sant Fateh Singh. Gurmit Singh's History of Sikh Struggles calls him "Master's trusted man", meaning Tara Singh's.

Key moments

• 11 March 1962: the SGPC's list shows him taking over from Master Tara Singh, whose term had run from 10 March 1961.
• Summer 1962: Gurmit Singh says Sant Fateh Singh's group sent a requisition asking the SGPC president to call a general meeting before 6 September 1962.
• 17 August 1962: he was arrested with Master Tara Singh and Atma Singh, the Akali Dal's general secretary, for apprehension of breach of peace, according to Gurmit Singh. The Punjab Government, he writes, openly sided with the Sant.
• 2 October 1962: the General House carried a no-confidence motion against him by 76 votes to 72, and Sant Chanan Singh, a lieutenant of Sant Fateh Singh, replaced him. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism and the SGPC's list give this date; Gurmit Singh says the meeting was summoned for 2 September, without dating the vote itself, and that the Government arrested four members of Tara Singh's group before it while six Congress members voted with the Sant group.

The sources opened give his village name, Chak Sherewala, but not his dates of birth and death or his career before and after these months, so nothing more is stated here. He is remembered as the SGPC president of the months of the split of 1962, ousted by the vote of 2 October.