Notice on behalf of Centre and Army accepted in the court itself by Additional Solicitor-General of India Satya Pal Jain during the course of hearing
30 March, 2026 – Chandigarh : Just about seven years after a Ludhiana resident sought directions to the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee to disclose the whereabouts and fate of the manuscripts, religious books and other articles purportedly handed over to them by the Indian Army, the CBI and the government, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday sought response from the Centre and the Army.
The petitioner’s stand in the matter is that the articles were seized during the Operation Blue Star in 1984.
As the matter came up for resumed hearing on Monday, the Bench headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu also issued notice to the Indian Army.
“Let the respondents concerned file their reply. If they have it, they will say so. Other they will say they do not have it,” the Bench asserted.
The notice on behalf of the Centre and the Army was accepted in the court itself by Additional Solicitor-General of India Satya Pal Jain during the course of hearing. The Bench was told that the petition was filed in public interest way back in 2019.
Taking up the matter then, the Bench on November 7, 2019, had issued notice of motion only to the SGPC. Its stand emerging during the course of subsequent hearings was that some articles were still in possession of the CBI, Army or the Central Government.
Describing himself as a devout Sikh, petitioner Satinder Singh had initially submitted that the articles were seized during the Operation Blue Star from the Sikh Reference Library, Toshakhana, Central Sikh Museum and Guru Ramdas Library of the Golden Temple Complex.
His counsel Gursharan K Mann had also sought directions to the State of Punjab, the Union of India and other respondents to prepare lists of the artifacts, manuscripts and literature removed by the Army on June 7, 1984.
Directions were also sought for preparation of another list of manuscripts, religious books and other articles returned to respondent SGPC before ensuring their restoration to the libraries, the Central Sikh Museum and Toshakhana in the Golden Temple Complex. The petitioner had submitted these should then be made available to general public for darshan, reading and research purposes.
Mann had added the casual attitude and inaction on part of respondent SGPC towards tracing the manuscripts, books and other articles –– received from the Indian Army, CBI and others before these went missing –– was illegal, unjust and not sustainable in the eyes of law.
She had added the SGPC neither conducted any inquiry nor lodged an FIR for the loss of rare manuscripts, books, hukumnamas, paintings and other items.
“Even at this belated stage SGPC has not filed any FIR to recover the missing manuscripts of Guru Granth Sahib and Dasam Granth, with handwritten pages of Guru Gobind Singh ji, hukumnamas etc. which does not speak well of their intention,” she had added.
The Tribune
Sikh Reference Library books ‘taken away’ during Operation Bluestar in focus after Parl query
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