AJENDRAPRASADJI NARENDRAPRASADJI PANDEY Vs. SWAMY K NARAYANDASJI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) When litigants come before Courts raising disputes as to who shall function as Head of a religious or financial institutions, and they travel through the corridors of various Courts and come before this Court, one wonders when do these persons get time to think of purity sublime essences of religion and their duties as religious leaders. It has a sad reflection on the credibility of the religious institutions. Materialistic pursuits increasingly replace divine pursuits. The present case at hand is no exception.

(3.) The dispute centres round the question as to whether the removal of Ajendraprasadji Narendraprasadji Pandey from the post of Acharya on the basis of a purported resolution dated 11-5-2002 passed by a body calling itself Satsangha Maha Sabha was valid. Intimately linked with this core issue is the legality of the action taken to install Rakesh Prasadji Mahendra Prasadji. The dispute relates to Shri Swaminarayan Sampradaya, Vadtal Gaddi. The concerned suit was filed before the 3rd Joint Civil Judge, Senior Division, Nadiad numbered as Special Civil Suit No. 156/2002. An application in terms of Order 39, Rules 1 and 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (in short the CPC) was filed and the same was allowed by order dated 1-10-2002 with the following directions :