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TMI Blog1929 (5) TMI 4X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... wara. Plaintiffs also claimed certain consequential reliefs including the settlement of a scheme for the future management of the Gurdwara. Defendant flatly denied the charges of misconduct and maladministration brought against him and further pleaded that the institution was meant for Nirmala Sadhus only and that the plaintiff's not being Nirmalas had no interest therein. As regards the properties said to have been maladministered he claims that they belonged to him personally and none had any right to oust him therefrom. Defendant denied at first even that the Nirmalas are Sikhs, but later on modified that position and stated that the Nirmalas were a sect of Sikhs, but distinct from the rest of the Sikh community: vide pp. 14 and 23 of part 1 of the Printed Paper Book.) 2. The material issues in the suit were as follows: 1. Whether the Guru Sar Satlani is a general Sikh Gaddi as distinguished from a Nirmala Sikh Gaddi and whether the plaintiffs have any interest in it and are as general Sikhs entitled to maintain the suit? 2. If so, is the property attached to the institution the property of the institution and as such is a trust property created for public purposes of a c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 3, if such claim could have been made in of petition forwarded to the Local Government under the provisions of Section 5 or 6 or presented to a tribunal under the provisions of Sections 19, 20, 21 or 27 and was not so made, until and unless such Gurdwara is deemed to be excluded from specification in Schedule 1 under the provision of Section 4; 2. No Court shall continue any proceedings in so far as such proceedings involve any claim relating to a Gurdwara in regard to which a notification has been published under the provisions of Sub-section (3), Section 7, which could have been made in a petition forwarded to the Local Government under the provisions of Section 10 or 11 or presented to a tribunal under the provisions of Sections 19, 20, 21 or 27 and was not so made, unless and until it has been decided under the provisions of Section 16 that such Gurdwara should not be declared to be a Sikh Gurdwara. 7. The question of law involved was not free from difficulty and was referred to a Full Bench, which decided that the present appeals could be heard by this Court, though possibly some of the reliefs claimed cannot now be granted owing to the provisions of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act: v ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e on the question of the title to any particular properties. This also renders it impossible to give any finding on the maladministration of the properties. The parties seem to have mainly confined themselves to the question of the alleged bad character of the defendant and little or no attention appears to have been paid to the other important issues arising in the case. 10. However, in view of the conclusion at which I have arrived on the question of the locus standi of the plaintiffs involved in the first issue, it is unnecessary to (discuss the above points further. This question of locus standi was laid great stress on on behalf of the appellant and after carefully considering the facts of the case in the light of the authorities cited I am of opinion that it must be decided in his favour. 11. The two grounds on which the plaintiffs claimed an interest in the alleged trust were: (1) that they were worshippers of the Gurdwara Guru Sar Satlani, and (2) that they were members of the Sikh community. The defendant categorically denied that the plaintiffs had any right to maintain the suit on either of these grounds: vide para. 1 of the written statement of the defendant-appellant ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , that "Nirmalas" are chelas of Guru Gobind Singh, and hence it is unnecessary to dilate on this point. But although the Nirmalas appear to have been originally followers of Guru Gobind Singh the important point for consideration is whether they are now distinct from the general body of the Sikhs and in particular from the plaintiffs who are "Akalis." On this point, the authorities seem to be agreed that the Nirmalas have drifted to a great extent towards the practices of the Hindu religion. The following extract from Sir Edward Maclagan's Census report for this Province for the year 1891 is very instructive in this connexion: The Nirmalas. The Nirmalas represent a different aspect of the history of Gobind's followers; for this order has by degrees rid itself of the main distinguishing marks of the Khalsa faith and is gradually returning to a pure form of orthodox Hinduism. The Nirmalas originated, like the Akalis, in the time of Gobind Singh, but there are two stories regarding the manner of their origin. According to the one, a water carrier was seized by Gobind's soldiers for supplying water to the enemy during a battle, but the Guru recognized ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e returned in the Census as Hindu than as Sikhs. The Akalis are specially bitter against them and there have been great contentions between the two sects with regard to the right of worship at the great Sikh shrine at Apchalanagar on the Godaveri. 16. To the same effect is the description of "Nirmalas" in the Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and N.W.F. province by H.A. Rose, in which it is, stated that the "Nirmalas" having: adhered to the study of the orthodox Hindu scriptures have lost touch with Sikhism. 17. In Oman's "Mystics, Ascetics, and saints of India" Nirmalas are described as followers of "Vedanta philosophy" Mr. Macaulife, a well known authority on Sikhism, in an article in the Calcutta Review in 1891 on the Sikh Religion under Banda and its present condition described the "Nirmalas" as only nominally Hindus: vide Calcutta Review Vol. 73 p. 167. 18. From the above authorities, the affinity of the "Nirmalas" to Hindus is perfectly clear, it appears from the Census report for the Punjab for the year 1891 that a large number of Nirmalas actually declared themselves as Hindus in that year, t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rue followers of Guru Gobind Singh. 22. The question of the plaintiffs' locus standi to maintain this suit has to be determined in the light of the position of the present day Nirmalas and the character of the institution as described above. The plaintiff's have alleged that they are the worshippers of this Gurdwara. But there is no evidence on the record to establish this fact. One of the plaintiffs made a statement to this effect before the issues but this statement was in the nature of a pleading and not a part of the evidence. It is significant that while the plaintiffs put the defendant in the witness-box they themselves had not the courage to go into the witness-box. Plaintiffs were the best persons to give evidence as to the "interest" possessed by them in the institution and their failure to go into the witness-box must in the circumstances go strongly against them: cf. Gurbakhsh Singh v. Gurdial Singh 23. The learned Counsel for the plaintiffs had to concede that there was no evidence to establish that the plaintiffs were the worshippers of the Gurdwara in dispute and he was constrained to take up the position that as Sikhs they were entitled to go to t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... alnagar on the Godaveri. The true genesis of the present case also appears to be a dispute between the parties to this suit in connexion with the Gurdwara Guru Sar Satlani. There is evidence on the record which shows that the Akalis took forcible possession of the Gurudwara at Guru Sar Satlani about March 1921 and that it was subsequently restored to the defendant through the intervention of the authorities in April, 1921, see Ex. D-56 and statement of D.W. 142. The present suit was instituted in July 1921, i.e., shortly after the restoration of, the Gurdwara to the defendant. Out of the present plaintiffs four were included in the committee appointed by the Akalis to take over the management of the Gurudwara when they took forcible possession of it about. March 1921. When the attempt to obtain forcible possession of the Gurudwara failed they appear to have instituted the present suit. 26. After carefully considering the evidence on the record I have come to the conclusion that the plaintiffs have failed to prove their locus standi to maintain the present suit. I would, therefore, accept this appeal and dismiss the suit, but in view of all the circumstances leave the parties to be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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