In a letter to Surinder Singh Hansra, president of the Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Virginia in the United States, Ranjit Singh said dragging the religious matters of Sikhs into legal courts was a matter of anxiety for him.

Hansra was among the six foreign Sikh leaders who were issued show cause notices by the Akal Takht to clarify their stand on `langar maryada' in the wake of reports that they were opposing the edict.

The management of the Singh Sabha Gurdwara had included a new clause in its constitution that Sikhs not having faith in the Akal Takht shall not be eligible to become members of the Gurdwara Committee.

Ranjit Singh has congratulated members of the Gurdwara Committee for honouring Sikh traditions, but haddisagreed with the clause in the Gurdwara constitution that `punj piyaras' (five loved ones) should have the right to resolve the gurdwara disputes. He said though it was a positive move, it was not workable without a consensus on the selection of `punj piyaras.'

Bhai Ranjit Singh also wrote that he was taking steps to bring about a permanent solution to this problem under the aegis of the Akal Takht. He said every Sikh, Sikh institute and Singh Sabha should accept the supremacy of the Akal Takht and take their disputes to the proposed tribunal instead of legal courts.

He said the decision taken by the tribunal should be binding and an appeal against it shall only be made before the Akal Takht.

Bhai Ranjit Singh said this step would bring all Sikhs on one platform and help in fostering the prosperity of the Sikh community. He said he would soon be writing to Sikh organisations the world over in this connection.

The Jathedar also suggested that only Sikhs who could recite the five Sikh `banis' beallowed to enter the management committees of gurdwaras. He felt that with this requirement, only baptised and credible Sikhs would come forward to handle Sikh affairs.