135. Procedure when hereditary office-holder or minister is dismissed.
(1)When the dismissal of a hereditary office-holder or of a minister is ordered, the order shall, except when it is based on facts or conclusions established at a judicial trial or when such office-holder or minister is absconding, be preceded by a recorded enquiry, and at such enquiry a definite charge in writing shall be framed in respect of each offence and explained to such office-holder or minister; the evidence in support of it and any evidence which he may adduce in his defence shall be recorded in his presence and his defence shall be taken down in writing, and on each of the charges framed a finding shall be recorded.(2)A committee may suspend a hereditary office-holder or a minister pending an enquiry into the charges framed against him.(3)Any hereditary office-holder who has been suspended or dismissed may, within three months of the date of the order of suspension or dismissal, as the case may be, appeal either to the Board or to the Commission as he may elect; if he elects to appeal to the Board, the order of the Board shall be final, and if he elects to appeal to the Commission, a further appeal shall lie to the High Court from the order of the Commission, provided that such appeal shall be made within ninety days of the date of the order.(4)Any minister other than a hereditary office-holder who has been suspended or dismissed, may within ninety days of the date of the order of suspension or dismissal, as the case may be, appeal to the Board and the order of the Board shall be final.(5)When no appeal is preferred against an order of a committee suspending or dismissing a hereditary office-holder or a minister, as the case may be, such order shall be final.(6)If, in the opinion of the Board, a hereditary office-holder or a minister of a Notified Sikh Gurdwara may be dismissed in accordance with the provisions of section 134, the Board may move the committee of such gurdwara to dismiss him, and if the committee does not within one month of being so moved dismiss such office-holder or minister, the Board may apply to the Commission to order his removal, and if the Commission finds that such office-holder or minister may be so dismissed, it may order his dismissal.(7)When an application has been made to the Commission under the provisions of sub-section (6), the Commission may suspend from office, pending its decision, the person against whom the application has been made.(8)Any hereditary office-holder dismissed under the provisions of sub-section (6), may, within ninety days of the date of the order of dismissal, appeal to the High Court.(9)Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (3) or sub-section (4), when the Board acting as a committee under the provisions [* * * *] [The words brackets and figure [of sub-section (1)] omitted by Punjab Act 11 of 1944, Section 46.] of section 85 orders the suspension or dismissal of a hereditary office-holder, an appeal from such order shall lie only to the Commission with a further appeal to the High Court as provided in sub-section (3) and when the Board acting as such committee orders the suspension or dismissal of a minister other than a hereditary office-holder the order of the Board shall be final; and nothing contained in sub-sections (6), (7) or (8) shall apply to the Board acting as such committee.
