Amritsar, Punjab (February 20, 2014): Sukhbir Badal’s shot to discredit Senior Supreme Court lawyer and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate from Ludhiana, Harvinder Singh Phoolka, seems to have misfired. Sukhbir had alleged that Advocate Phoolka had charged huge fees to fight the cases related to November 1984 Sikh carnage. Phoolka has already dared Sukhbir Badal to prove his charges or quit the post of president of Akal Dal Badal.
On the other hand two premier Sikh bodies, the SGPC and DSGMC, both currently controlled by Badal Dal, are tight-lipped on the issue.
According to The Tribune (TT): “[t]reading with caution, DSGMC president Manjit Singh GK said he would comment on the issue only after he went through the accounts of the DSGMC”.
“It will be inappropriate to make a statement without verifying facts,” he said.
As per TT: “SGPC secretary Dalmegh Singh also said he would comment only after checking the accounts”.
“That Sukhbir’s startling allegation was not based on facts became crystal clear on Wednesday when the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), helmed by SAD, informed him that there was nothing on its records to prove that Phoolka was paid for fighting the legal battle on the Delhi carnage cases”, Hindustan Times (HT) reports.
As per HT: [t]op SAD sources say the DSGMC was especially tasked by Sukhbir’s aides to dig up proofs of payments to Phoolka. However, on Thursday, the DSGMC informed Sukhbir that there was no evidence to prove that Phoolka was “paid even a penny for his legal battle on behalf of the riot victims”. Even the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), also under the SAD control, has failed so far to find any record of payments to Phoolka for the Delhi Sikh carnage related cases.
However, as per information former DSGMC president Paramjeet Singh Sarna said Phoolka had not charged a penny for contesting cases of riot victims during his tenure at the Delhi gurdwara body.
He said Phoolka had charged the DSGMC for other cases, and had accepted whatever was given to him. He alleged Sukhbir was lying on the issue.
According to The Tribune: SGPC sources confirmed that the Sikh body paid nothing as fee to Phoolka at least in the last eight years. On the other hand, Phoolka clarified that he was not associated with the SGPC over the 1984 Sikh carnage issue.
“Even after my association with the SGPC post-2010, I didn’t charge a penny, although the SGPC was paying fee to other member of a lawyers’ panel formed to contest the cases. I was offered a fee, but I did not accept it”.
He clarified that Rs 22,000 being mentioned as “fee” paid to him by the SGPC was actually the award money given to him by the latter at a felicitation ceremony at Baba Bakala. “I charge Rs 22,000 for a one-hour conference while my fee to appear in court cases is much more,” he added.
He said he had been associated with the DSGMC since 1985, but had not charged anything. He said he had contested most of the cases on behalf of the Citizen Justice Committee and the 1984 Carnage Justice Committee.