AMRITSAR, March 2 -- Akal Takht jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh on Saturday stated that the seven-member committee constituted by the highest Sikh temporal seat to conduct the recruitment drive of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for the reorganisation of the party structure did not require the cooperation of the party's existing leadership and the panel was asked to initiate the process of recruitment on its own.

His statement comes days after the panel members met him at his residence to tell him that the SAD leadership was "not cooperating" with them in initiating the recruitment process.

While interacting with the media here, the jathedar stated that as per the December 2 decree of the Akal Takht, the SAD recruitment drive had not started...