By IANS
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Monday refused to intervene in the controversy between the Akal Takht, the highest temporal authority of Sikhism, and the Dera Sacha Sauda sect.
A bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat and D.K. Jain refused to entertain the Dera's petition against the Akal Takht's ultimatum that all Dera centres must be vacated and their activities stopped, saying: "As the Punjab and Haryana High Court is already monitoring the matter, we are not inclined to interfere in it."
As the court refused to entertain the matter, petitioner Abhijit Bhagat, trustee and vice chairman of the Dera Sacha Sauda, withdrew his plea.
The petition had prayed for a direction to various states to protect the life, liberty and property of the Dera and its followers.
Tensions between sections of the Sikhs and Dera Sacha Sauda followers erupted last month after the Dera chief was photographed in the garb of Sikhism's 10th guru, Gobind Singh.
The Akal Takht had May 20 served an ultimatum to the Punjab government to close down all the Deras in the state by May 27. The Dera chief, in turn, had tendered an apology to Guru Gobind Singh.