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E W S July
11, 2003: MD The lawsuit which gripped Gurdwara Guru Nanak Foundation of America (GNFA), one of the largest Gurdwaras in the D.C. area, for approximately eighteen months came to a settlement recently. The Consent Order, Settlement Statement and Agreement," the official court document listing the agreement reached in the lawsuit and counter lawsuit between the GNFA management and the GNFA opposition was released on July 1, 2003. Among the list of fourteen items in the agreement were: The membership would be raised back to $21. This became a point of contention when the GNFA management, under President Bakhshish Singh, lowered it to $11. The opposition, led by Amar Singh, accused the management of buying memberships on behalf of dubious parties. This led to a record number of members, over 3,000, which resulted in cancelled elections. The GNFA constitution requirement of 25% of the membership for quorum could not be completed although two attempts were made in last year's election. In theory, without a quorum, GNFA would never hold elections, leaving the current trustees and management to appoint their own candidates to official Gurdwara positions. The court ordered that an independent monitor would oversee and conduct the collection of dues, the creation of a membership list and the 2004 elections. As a one-time exception, the quorum for the 2004 election will be waived. Elections will be held next year. If the 2004 election is conducted by the independent monitor, in conformity with the agreed guidelines, neither party will be able to contest or instigate the contest of that election. All trustees, contributing and elected, will resign by February 15, 2004, effective as soon as the results of the elections are announced by the independent monitor. The fee to run for the position of Contributing Trustee is still a stiff $1,500, which is nonrefundable. The agreement also stated that GNFA's resident Raagi Jathaa would not be hired or appointed to serve at the Gurdwara until after the 2004 election. The Jathaa was dismissed last year by GNFA, under the former President Kashmir Singh. A significant outcome of this agreement is that GNFA is ordered to pay a total of $50,000 to the law firms representing the opposition party as partial payment of fees and expenses incurred. The total cost of the lawsuit to both parties is not known yet, but is expected to be significantly higher. Each party also agreed to release any claims or suits
against the other party, known or unknown, "from the beginning of
the world to the present." comment: click here to see full agreement ©The Sikh Sentinel 2003 [Please distribute unmodified only, with credit] |