A SIKH temple which failed to prevent the circulation of potentially extremist material has received an official warning for breaching the Charities Act 2011.
The Charity Commission England and Wales issued the warning to the Gurdwara Guru Nanak Parkash temple on the grounds that it considers trustees have committed a breach of trust or duty or misconduct or mismanagement in the administration of the charity.
The Commission concluded that trustees failed to work collectively and to implement agreed decisions while also failing to make decisions which are in the best interests of the charity.
Failure to take adequate steps to prevent the circulation of views or material that could be seen to be inappropriately political or extremist in nature on its premises was also a reason for the warning.
It was also said the temple had exposed members of the charity to undue risk of harm by virtue of repeated disruption on charity premises, which required a regular police presence.
The Commission, which opened a case into Gurdwara Guru Nanak Parkash in 2015, has engaged with the charity to ensure it implements lawful decisions about the management and administration of the charity.
In January this year, police were called to the temple when an altercation broke out during a talk by secretary, Malkit Singh Bal.
A Charity Commission spokesperson said: “The trustees have been unable to collectively manage and act in the best interests of the charity due to internal differences.
“The charity appears to have failed to adhere to charity law duties.”
He added the trustees had also failed to take reasonable steps to prevent physical, verbal or threatening behaviour on the charity’s property or towards members of the charity, and breaches of the peace have led to regular police attendance at the Gurdwara.
“This represents a failure to comply with the trustees’ legal duty to avoid exposing the charity’s assets, beneficiaries or reputation to undue risk,” he said.
“The trustees are to make and implement collective and lawful decisions about the management and administration of the charity in the interests of the charity only.
“They also need to ensure the charity’s assets are managed responsibly, and that adequate safeguards are put in place for beneficiaries and trustees so that they are not exposed to undue risk of harm on charity premises.
“We continue to monitor the charity.”
The Observer has attempted to contact the Gurdwara Guru Nanak Parkash for a comment.
