NAUTAMSWAMI GURU VASUDEV Vs. HARJIBHAI NANJIBHAI BHIMANI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Learned Advocate Mr. Parikh waives service of rule on behalf of the respondents nos. 1 and 2, learned Advocate Mr. Purohit waives service of rule on behalf of the respondent no.3 while learned Advocate Mr. Mithani waives services of rule on behalf of the respondents nos.4 to 10.

(2.) The Appeal From Order is admitted by this Court today and the same is now fixed for final hearing. This Civil Application is filed by the appellant with a prayer that during the pendency of the Civil Application, ex-parte ad-interim order passed by the learned Civil Judge (S.D.), Anand in Civil Suit no.17/2003 be stayed. Since the original Appeal From Order is filed against the ex-parte order of the trial Court which is admitted by this Court, the question which requires to be considered in this Civil Application is whether the petitioner has made out any strong prima facie case for getting interim relief and whether, in the facts and circumstances of the case, interim relief prayed for can be granted during the pendency of the Appeal From Order. In order to consider the controversy between the parties, it is necessary to refer to the facts of the case.

(3.) The dispute in the present proceedings relates to appointment of an Acharya at Swaminarayan Temple, Vadtal. Special Civil Suit no.156/02 is pending in the Court of Civil Judge (S.D.) at Nadiad in which there is a prayer that one Ajendraprasadji and his son have got no right to continue as an Acharya of the aforesaid institution. Since this Court is not directly concerned with the aforesaid suit in the present proceedings, it is not necessary to refer the details of the said suit. Reference to the said suit is made for a limited purpose with regard to some interim relief granted by the trial Court in the said suit. In the aforesaid suit, the trial Court granted injunction in favour of the plaintiffs by which the aforesaid Acharya was prevented from acting as an Acharya. The said order is carried further by way of Appeal From Order being Appeal From Order no.421/2002. This Court (Coram: R.P.Dholakia,J.) has admitted said Appeal From Order. The order of the learned Single Judge of this Court is made available for my perusal by the learned Advocates of both the sides and I have gone through the contents of the said order. The learned Single Judge, while admitting the said Appeal From Order, has rejected the prayer for staying the order of the trial Court by which earlier Acharya was restrained from functioning as an Acharya of the institution. The appellants of the said appeal at the time of preferring the said Appeal From Order had submitted a Civil Application no.7250/2002 for interim relief. The interim relief which was prayed for in the said Civil Application is as under: