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TMI Blog2003 (9) TMI 816X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... f Punjab published a notification No. 1216-G.P., dated 23rd June 1961 under Section 7(3) of the Act describing the main institution as a Sikh Gurdwara. When the petition under Section 7(1) was notified, Mahant Harnam Singh, Chela Narain Singh, Nirmala Sadhu the original respondent (who has died in the meantime and is represented by legal representatives) filed a counter petition under Section 8 of the Act claiming that the institution in dispute was not a Sikh Gurdwara but it was a Dera Bhai Saida Ram. Similar petition under Section 8 of the Act was also moved by 58 persons of the Dera alleging that the institution in dispute was not a Sikh Gurdwara. Both these petitions were forwarded by the State Government to the Tribunal for disposal. In the two petitions Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (hereinafter referred to as the 'Committee') was arrayed as the respondent. 4. Stand of Harnam Singh was that the Dera was not established in the memory of any Sikh Guru or in commemoration of any incident in the life of any of the Ten Sikh Gurus or in memory of any Sikh Martyr, saint or historical persons and never been used or public worship by Sikhs. On the other hand, the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... institution could be declared as a Sikh Gurdwara. But it did not opine as to under which clause of Sub-section (2) of Section 16 the institution in question falls. 8. Aggrieved by the judgment of the Tribunal, the High Court was moved in First Appeal. The High Court felt that the Tribunal had lost sight of the decision in Harnam Singh's case (supra). In fact in that case the two plaintiffs who were signatories to the petition under Section 7(1) of the Act had obtained permission from the Advocate General for instituting a suit under Section 92 of CPC against Harnam Singh. It was claimed in the plaint that there was one Guru Granth Sahib at village Jhandawala, Tahsil and district Bhatinda which was managed by Mahant Harnam Singh as a Mahatmin and he was in possession of the Dera and agricultural land belonging to Guru Granth Sahib which was a public religious place and was established by the residents of the village and it was a public trust created by the residents of the village for the service of the public to provide food from the lunger, to allow the people to fulfill religious beliefs and for worship etc. The plaintiffs in their capacity as representatives of owners of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ion in dispute was established for use of Sikhs for the purpose of public worship. Accordingly, it was held that the institution in dispute was not a Sikh Gurdwara. 10. In support of the appeals, learned counsel for the Committee submitted that in the earlier case the basic issue whether the institution was a Sikh Gurdwara was not considered. Nirmalas are Sikhs as was held in several decisions and the essential ingredients necessary for coming to a conclusion that the institution is a Sikh Gurdwara have been established beyond a shadow of doubt by ample oral and documentary evidence adduced by the Committee. The onus has been wrongly placed on the Committee. On the contrary, since the respondent was taking the stand that the institution was not a Sikh Gurdwara, the onus was on him to establish so. According to him, by a long series of decisions rendered nearly seven decades back it was observed that Nirmalas are Sikhs. When Guru Granth Sahib was worshipped in any institution makes it Sikh Gurdwara, the onus having been wrongly placed, the judgment of the High Court gets vitiated. Merely because the Manager of the institution was a Nirmala that does not affect the institution fro ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ns to have a gurdwara declared a Sikh Gurdwara- (1) Any fifty or more Sikh worshippers of a gurdwara, each of whom is more than twenty-one years of age and was on the commencement of this Act or, in the case of the extended territories from the commencement of the Amending Act, resident in the police station area in which the gurdwara is situated, may forward to the appropriate Secretary to Government so as to reach the Secretary within one year from the commencement of this Act or within such further period as the State Government may by notification fix for this purpose, a petition praying to have the gurdwara declared to be a Sikh Gurdwara: Provided that the State Government may in respect of any such gurdwara declare by notification that a petition shall be deemed to be duly forwarded whether the petitioners were or were not on the commencement of this Act or, in the case of the extended territories, on the commencement of the Amending Act, as the case may be, residents in the police station area in which such gurdwara is situated, and shall thereafter deal with any petition that may be otherwise duly forwarded in respect of any such gurdwara as if the petition had been duly ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ibed: Provided that such petition may be withdrawn by notice to be forwarded by the Board so as to reach the appropriate Secretary to Government at any time before publication, and on such withdrawal, it shall be deemed as if no petition had been forwarded under the provisions of Sub-section (1). (4) Notice of claims to property to be sent to persons shown in the list as in possession- The state Government shall also, s soon as may be, send by registered post a notice of the claim to any right, title or interest included in the list to each of the persons named therein as being in possession of such right, little or interest either on his own behalf or on behalf of an insane person or minor or on behalf of the Gurdwara. Provided that no such notice need be sent if the person named as being in possession is a person who joined in forwarding the list. (5) Effect of publication of petition and list under Sub-section (3). The publication of a notification under the provisions of Sub-section (3) shall be conclusive proof that the provisions of Sub-sections (1), (2), (3) and (4) have been duly complied with. Section 8: Petition to have it declared that a place asserted t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... urdwara. (2) Effect of publication of a notification under Sub-section (1)- The publication of a notification under the provisions of Sub-section (1) shall be conclusive proof that the gurdwara is a Sikh Gurdwara, and the provisions of Part III shall apply to the gurdwara with effect from the date of the publication of the notification. Section 10: Petition of claim to property including to a list published under Sub-section (3) of Section 7 - (1) any person may forward to the State Government through the appropriate Secretary to Government, so as to reach the Secretary within ninety days from the date of the publication of a notification under the provisions of Sub-section (3) of Section 7, a petition claiming a right, title or interest in any property included in the list so published. (2) Signing and verification of petitions under Sub-section (1) - A petition forwarded under the provisions of Sub-section (1) shall be signed and verified by the person forwarding it in the manner provided by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), for the signing and verification of plaints, and shall specify the nature of the right, title or interest claimed and the grounds of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the presentation of the petition under Sub-section (1) of Section 7; the tribunal shall decide that it should be declared to be a Sikh Gurdwara, and record an order accordingly. Section 18(1)(g): Presumption in favour of a Notified Sikh Gurdwara on proof of certain facts when a claim to property is made by an officer-holder - In any proceedings before a Tribunal, if any past or present office-holder denies that a right, title, or interest recorded, in his name or in that of any person through whom claims, in a record of rights, or in an annual record, prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887 (17 of 1887), and claimed to belong to a Notified Sikh Gurdwara, does so belong, and claims such right, title or interest to being to himself shall, notwithstanding anything contained in Section 44 of the said Act, be a presumption that such right, title or interest belongs to the gurdwara upon proof of any of the following facts namely:- (a)x x x (b)x x x (c)x x x (d)x x x (e)x x x (f)x x x (g) the devolution of the succession to the right, title or interest in question from an office-holder to the successor-in-office a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e is that there should be established Guru Granth Sahib and the worship of the same by congregation, and a Nishan Sahib. There may be other rooms of the institution made for other purposes but the crucial test is the existence of Guru Granth Sahib and the worshippers thereof by the congregation and Nishan Sahib. 16. Unless the claim falls within one or the other of the categories enumerated in Sub-section (2) of Section 16, the institution cannot be declared to be a Sikh Gurdwara. 17. These aspects have been highlighted in Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar v. Bagga Singh and Ors. AIR 2003 SC 599 . 18. In S.G.P. Committee v. M.P. Dass Chela (dead) by Lrs. [1998] 3 SCR 119 it was held that in terms of the requirement of Section 16(2), the onus to prove that the institution is a Sikh Gurdwara lies on the person who asserts the same. That being the position, the Committee which asserted that the Institution was a Sikh Gurdwara has to rove the same. The High Court has therefore rightly held that the Tribunal wrongly placed the burden of proof on the respondents herein. Judgments to the contrary rendered and relied upon by the appellants are no longer good law in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e for the protection of public rights in the public trust and charities. The suit is fundamentally on behalf of the entire body of persons who are interested in the trust. It is for the vindication of public rights. The beneficiaries of the trust, which may consist of public at large, may choose two or more persons amongst themselves for the purpose of filing a suit under Section 92 CPC and the suit-title in that event would show only their names as plaintiffs. Can we say that the persons whose names are in the suit title are the only parties to the suit? The answer would be in the negative. The named plaintiffs being the representatives of the public at large which is interested in the trust, all such interested persons would be considered in the eyes of law to be parties to the suit. A suit under Section 92 CPC is thus a representative suit and as such binds not only the parties named in the suit-title but all those who share common interest and are interested in the trust. It is for that reason that Explanation VI to Section 11 of CPC constructively bars by res judicata the entire body of interested persons from re-agitating the matters directly and substantially in issue in an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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