SARDAR SARUP SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution in which the petitioners challenge the constitutional validity of S. 148-B of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 (Punjab VIII of 1925), hereinafter called the principal Act, the said section having been added to the principal Act by the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Act, 1959, hereinafter called the amending Act of 1959. The petitioners profess and practice the Sikh faith and they allege that they are interested in the maintenance and management of Sikh Gurdwaras, scheduled and notified under the principal Act. Their main contention is that S. 148-B violates the fundamental right granted under Art. 26 (b) of the Constitution to every religious denomination or any section thereof including the Sikh denomination, "to manage its own affairs in matters of religion". The respondents to the petition are, firstly, the State of Punjab and, secondly, President and twelve members of the Interim Gurdwara Board, Patiala, who under Cl. (a) of sub-s. (1) of S. 148-B shall be deemed to be members of the Board constituted under S. 43 of the principal Act. That Board is now known by the name of the Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee. The application has been contested before us by respondent No. 1 only, namely, the State of Punjab, on the found that S.148-B does not, in any way, violate the fundamental right granted to the petitioners or other members of the Sikh denomination under Art. 26(b) of the Constitution. Therefore, the only question for consideration before us is if S. 148-B of the principal Act does or does not contravene the fundamental right granted to the Sikhs under Art. 26(b) of the Constitution.

(2.) We shall presently set out the provisions of S. 148-B and also of some other relevant sections of the principal Act. But before we do that, it is necessary to state a few facts with regard to the passing of the amending Act of 1959. It has been stated before us that in or about the year 1919 there was considerable unrest amongst the Sikhs in the Punjab in respect of the management of their gurdwaras and shrines, and in 1922 an Act called the Sikh Gurdwaras and Shrines Act was passed:this did not satisfy the Sikhs and in 1925 the principal Act was passed, as its preamble states, "for the better administration of certain Sikh gurdwaras and for enquiries into matters and settlement of disputes connected therewith". The principal Act was amended from time to time. On 1-11-1956, there was merger of the erstwhile State of Patiala and the East Punjab States Union (hereafter called Pepsu in brief) with the State of Punjab. Sometime in February 1957 the Government of the State of Punjab appointed an advisory committee to report as to whether the principal Act should be extended to the area which was formerly within Pepsu. In September 1957 the committee recommended in favour of such extension. On 8-4-1958, a bill called the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 1958 was introduced in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha and the Bill was sent to the regional committees constituted by an order of the President called the Punjab Regional Committees Order, 1957 made under Cl. (1) of Art. 371 of the Constitution. The regional committees dealt with the Bill and made certain recommendations. For the purposes of the application before us, it is unnecessary to go into details of the proceedings before the regional committees. Sometime in November 1958 there was a meeting of the Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee for the purpose of the annual election. Learned counsel for the petitioners has stated before us that at this meeting there was a majority by a very small margin (three votes only) in favour of a particular group of Sikhs and against another group known as the "Shiromoni Akali Dal". Within one week, however, a notice was given for calling a meeting to consider the provisions of the amending Bill; this meeting could not, however, be held as an order of stay was obtained from the Judicial Commission constituted under the principal Act. In December 1958 a special session of the Vidhan Sabha was summoned to consider the amending Bill. It has been stated that originally the amending Bill did not contain provisions like those later embodied in S. 148-B. The Bill was accordingly sent back to the regional committees and on 27-12-1958, the regional committees submitted a final report and recommended the addition of provisions which subsequently became the provisions of S. 148-B of the principal Act. It may be here stated that even in the regional committees there was some opposition to the provisions in question. On 31-12-1958, the Bill was passed by the Vidhan Sabha and on 3-1-1959, it was passed by the Legislative Council. On 8-1-1959, it received the assent of the Governor and became Punjab Act No. I of 1959, which is the Amending Act of 1959. It came into force at once and some rules under the Act were made a few days after. On 2-2-1959, the present petition was filed and on 14-2-l959, the election of 35 Sikhs contemplated under Cl. (b) of sub-s. (1) of S. 148-B was completed.

(3.) It is necessary at this stage to refer to some of the old provisions of the principal Act as also the new provisions added by the amending Act of 1959. The Board which is known as the Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee acts as the committee of management in respect of some of the principal Sikh gurdwaras; in addition, it also has the duty of ensuring that every committee of management deals with the property and income of the gurdwara or gurdwaras managed by it in accordance with the provisions of the Act and for the fulfilment of this duty it exercises control, direction and general superintendence over all committees appointed under the provisions of the principal Act (see S. 125). The Board is constituted under S. 43 of the principal Act. Previous to the passing of Punjab Act No. 44 of 1953, S. 43 said that the Board shall consist of (i) 84 elected members, (ii) the head ministers of certain well-known Sikh gurdwaras, (iii) 12 members nominated by the Rajpramukh of Pepsu and (iv) 17 members resident in India of whom not more than four shall be residents in Punjab, co-opted by the members of the Board as described in (i), (ii) and (iii) above. In 1953 was passed Punjab Act No. 44 of 1953 and S. 43 of the principal Act was amended. The amended section was in these terms: