The Sikhs and Gatka associations in India and abroad are in total shock against registration of trademark of Sikh martial art ‘Gatka’ and National Gatka Association of India (NGAI) had approached the Akal Takht Sahib, the supreme institution of Sikhs, to summon the concerned person and direct him to seek forgiveness from Sikh community besides getting cancellation the patent of Gatka forthwith.Meanwhile, a lot of new evidences have came out about the controversial owner of a nascent company namely ‘world league India Gatka federation’ who was spending Rs 20 crores to organize ‘world Gatka league’ in Delhi during March this which have proven to be a blatant lie. Besides, receipts from Sports Authority of India (SAI) bearing crores of Rupees as fee and security for booking of venue at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium New Delhi for this Gatka event have been found totally fake.Disclosing this here today at press conference, president of National Gatka Association of India, Harjeet Singh Grewal, State Awardee, said a Delhi based person Harpreet Singh Khalsa had applied for the patent of Gatka and Sikh Martial art under the trademark law. But trademark authority has objected to patenting of Sikh Martial art as the issue was raised in the media by NGAI and International Sikh Martial Arts Academy (ISMAA) recently. In addition to this, both the organizations have also filed a petition with the trademark authority to cancel the trademark of Gatka to the above said person.
He further informed that not only this, this nascent company has also uploaded the details of Rs 20 crores to be spent on the world Gatka league on three of his websites, but in reality he was cheating the Gatka practitioners through false propaganda. The company has publically announced on cyber world that he would award the winning Gatka teams of worth Rs 01 crore cash prize, Rs 75 lakh for the runner up and Rs 50 lakh for the third position. The SAI administration has clarified that booking of stadium is online and printed receipts are fake besides no booking was done for any Gatka event during the month of March”, he said.“Now, this person announced that world Gatka league would be held on April 6 and claimed that the league would be inaugurated by the Prime Minister itself but in reality PMO has not given any date for inaugurating this league.Gatka promoter Grewal further revealed that the same person has been claiming through his e-paper ‘Saada Haq’ along with his all websites and social media for filling of 40 posts of Gatka coaches with a salary of Rs 30,000 per month. “This person has announced that the wages would be paid by his company to Gatka coaches with the help of SAI which would contribute Rs 30,000 each. “But the SAI officials have totally refused any such move to create such posts and recruit Gatka coaches,” he added.Grewal informed that he has sought all the relevant documents under RTI act submitted by this person or his company to get registration of trademarks of Gatka and Sikh martial art. He further said as per the preliminary investigation, this person has tempered with the official documents issued by the trademarks authority and uploaded tempered documents bearing different contact numbers and emails as mentioned in the genuine documents which reflect the intention of this person.
Grewal further revealed that this person has closed all his websites after the disclosure made by the NGAI and ISMAA recently but photocopies of uploaded documents have already been maintained and handed over to the secretariat of Sri Akal Takht Sahib.Giving more details he said this person had submitted five applications for getting registration of five different names, including Gatka and Sikh martial art, Indian Gatka Federation, World Gatka League and Super Gatka Confederation. Grewal said that as soon as their Gatka organization got the information regarding the patent of Gatka, he has lodged his protest in a letter to the Indian Trademark Authority and it has been found that some of these names have been objected by the Trademarks Authority.He further added that this person has also registered three companies under the Indian Companies Act, which includes World League India Gatka Federation, Kick Shoes Private Limited and Sadda Haq Media Private Limited. The company named World League India Gatka Federation based in Delhi was registered merely five months ago in October 2018. The same company has proposed publically to spend Rs 20 crore on the World Gatka League, but it is surprising to know that how a nascent company with zero share capital and without any business was able to spend such huge money. “This fact is subject of investigations and NGAI and ISMAA have written to income tax department and other relevant authorities to investigate the matter thoroughly. Grewal said more investigations related to this case are under progress and in the coming days, other relevant evidence will be put in the public domain.