New
Delhi: Putting an end to a nearly three-decade-old legal battle for Rs
1,000 crore compensation from the Union government for the 1984
Operation Bluestar, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC)
on Monday informed the Delhi high court it is withdrawing its suit.
In
a three-page affidavit filed before Justice M L Mehta, the SGPC
informed that by a resolution passed on March 8, 2013, the SGPC
executive committee decided to withdraw the suit that claimed
compensation of Rs 1,000 crore for the damages caused to the Golden
Temple in the operation carried out by the Army in 1984.
The
SGPC in its affidavit says it took stock of the case and of the
objections raised by the Central government and observed that the
maintainability of the suit is yet to be decided. The SGPC said if the
court fee of about Rs 10 crore is paid on the amount claimed, it will be
“sheer wastage of money spent on court fee, which is the hard-earned
money donated by devotees” if the case is decided against it.
The money will “go in vain” the SGPC argued in its affidavit
seeking liberty to withdraw its suit. On Monday, Justice Mehta was
informed by the counsel for SGPC that its office-holder Mangat Singh was
unable to be present in court and if granted time he will appear to
give an undertaking to withdraw the suit. Justice Mehta then adjourned
the case and posted it for hearing for April 22. The affidavit marks an
end to a suit that was instituted in an Amritsar court in 1985 and was
later transferred to the Delhi HC.
In January, 2013, the HC
began hearing the case but following the revised court fee system,
directed the SGPC to first deposit Rs 10 crore as fee if it wanted to
pursue the case.
When the committee expressed its helplessness
in paying such a huge amount claiming it is “indigent” organization, the
HC brushed aside these arguments and gave it eight weeks to deposit the
fee.