Sikh Gurdwara Act

Sikh Gurdwara Act, legislation passed in India unanimously by the Punjab legislative council in July 1925 to end a controversy within the Sikh community that had embroiled it with the British government and threatened the tranquillity of the Punjab. The controversy had emerged over a reforming movement, organized as the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (“Committee of Shrine Management”), that wished to remove from the Sikh gurdwaras (temples) hereditary mahants (guardians), who in some cases had diverted temple revenues to private use.

The controversy was embittered by the outrage at Nankana Sahib (now in Pakistan), when a number of protesters were trapped inside a gurdwara and burned to death. Processions of protest were organized, and the government was involved because the mahants had acquired customary proprietary rights in the pre-British period. The act, formulated with the help of the British governor, Sir Malcolm Hailey, set up a popularly elected central Sikh board, which represented the Sikh community. Sikh shrines and mahants were placed under the board’s control, ensuring that religious property was used for religious purposes and that the regular Sikh worship was maintained.