QUEEN STREET AND SILAT ROAD SIKH GURDAWARAS BILL

Order for Second Reading read.

6.06 p.m.

Mr John Mammen (Telok Blangah): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The object of this Bill is to amalgamate the Queen Street and the Silat Road Sikh Gurdawaras under a single constitution and management. The Silat Road Gurdwara and the Queen Street Gurdawara are, under the provisions of the Silat Road Gurdwara Ordinance (Chapter 318) and the Queen Street Gurdawara Ordinance (Chapter 311) respectively, placed under the management of two separate Boards of Trustees.

In recent years, the Silat Road Gurdwara had encountered financial difficulties through lack of regular income, and the maintenance of the temple became a matter of concern. For this reason, the present Boards of Trustees of the two temples applied to the Government to effect an amalgamation of the two Gurdawaras, because it was felt that if the Silat Road and the Queen Street Gurdawaras were placed under one management, the funds of the financially more viable Queen Street Gurdawara would be available to the new Board of Trustees for the better management of the Silat Road Gurdwara.

This amalgamation is made with the approval of all sections of the Sikh community. This Bill repeals the Queen Street Gurdawara Ordinance and the Silat Road Gurdwara Ordinance, and provides for the constitution of a Board of Trustees consisting of nine members drawn proportionately from the different sects of the Sikh community.

This Bill also includes the names of the first nine members of the Board who have been proposed by the Sikh community.

Mr Speaker, Sir, the new Bill provides under sub-clause (3) of clause 2 that the common seal shall be in the custody of the President of the Board, and lays down the procedure for signing documents and affixing the seal of the Board.

Clause 3 lays down the powers of the Board, and clause 4 vests in the Board all the land, premises and monies at present held by the two Gurdawaras, and the responsibility for the maintenance of these two Gurdawaras, and generally for their financial and other involvements.

In clause 5 the Board is given power to acquire and deal with property, and clause 6 lays down the procedure for the disbursement of funds belonging to the Board.

Finally, in clause 9, the Board is given powers to make rules not inconsistent with the provisions of this Bill.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time.

Mr John Mammen: Sir, as you, Mr Speaker, had ruled that in your opinion this Bill is a hybrid Bill. I therefore move, under Standing Order 65 (1),

That the Bill be referred to a Select Committee consisting of Mr Speaker as Chairman and seven Members to be nominated by the Committee of Selection.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved,

That the Bill be referred to a Select Committee consisting of Mr Speaker as Chairman and seven Members to be nominated by the Committee of Selection.