PUNJAB STATE Vs. CHANAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Regular Second Appeal is directed against judgment and decree dated 25.9.1982 passed by the Additional District Judge, Hoshiarpur (hereinafter described as 'the first appellate Court') whereby the appeal of the plaintiffs-respondents, which was preferred against judgment & decree dated 15.12.1980, was partly accepted.

(2.) A suit for declaration and perpetual injunction was filed by the plaintiffs against the present appellants and one Smt. Sangeet Kaur daughter of Bedi Madhusudan Singh Sahib Una. It was pleaded that the lands which were detailed in the head note of the plaint were dedicated and belonged to religious and charitable institution of public nature, namely, Dam Dama Sahib of Una, a Sikh Shrine, under Ahatman, i.e., management and supervision of Baba Madhusudan Singh. It was further pleaded that this Shrine was worshipped by the plaintiffs and countless Sikhs. It was averred that Shri Kala Dhari, founder of Una, a decendent of Baba Nanak was a very popular and spiritual saint, who had countless disciples and worshippers all over the country; that he had established a very sacred religious, charitable shrine and also Dam Dama Sahib at Una in the form of a Gaddi & Gurudwara; that Shri Sahib Singh, successor of Shri Kala Dhari, then established a religious charitable shrine at Quilla Jawahar Singh in Gujranwala (now in Pakistan) where a number of followers and worshippers gifted landed property to him for religious & charitable purposes; that income from this landed property was used for religious and charitable purposes and also for maintenance of the shrine Dam Dama Sahib; that not only the followers at Quilla Jawahar Singh had gifted the landed property, but also followers at Chak 143/9L, Chak Suleman, District Mintgumri, Wazirabad, Ram Nagar and Lyallpur had done so and in this manner, total 302 and 9-1/2 standard acres of land stood dedicated to the shrine and in the ownership column of the revenue record, the name of Dam Dama Baba Sahib Singh was recorded; that on account of partition of the country, 1440 kanals and 8 marlas of land was allotted to Bedi families of Una on account of their land in Pakistan at village Khiala Balanda, Tehsil & District Hoshiarpur without making any distinction between the land held by Bedi Family and the Shrine in Pakistan; that the total land in Quilla Jawahar Singh was 133 Standard Acres and 1/2 unit and the land allotted in lieu of that land at village Khiala Balanda to Tikka Devinder Singh, the decendent of Baba Sahib Singh comes to 735 kanals and 7 marlas; that although the property at Quilla Jawahar Singh was described as owned by Dam Dama Sahib Baba Sahib Singh of Una; that the Court of Wards had wrongly made this allotment as he was not familiar with the sanctity of the religious & charitable character of the property; that the property was being managed by the Bedi family as manager and Muntzim of the Shrine; that after the allotment of the disputed property in the East Punjab, it was being controlled and managed by Baba Madhusudan Singh on behalf of the Una sacred shrine; that Baba Madhusudan Singh continued to manage this property which was not his personal property and the income therefrom was being used for making arrangements of the boarding and lodging of the worshippers who used to come to the Shrine and also for holding two annual fairs; that despite the fact that Baba Davinder Singh or Baba Madhusudan Singh had no right to transfer the land, they had done so and in this way, transferred 156 kanals and 8 marlas in favour of Agriculture Department of Punjab Government, whereas land measuring 4 kanals 5 marlas was transferred in favour of the Government of Punjab and land measuring 330 kanals 14 marlas as detailed in part (c) of head note of the plaint was transferred in the name of Sangeet Kaur, daughter of Baba Madhusudan Singh; that all these transfers were illegal and not binding on the plaintiffs, the worshippers of the shrine; and that on account of mis-description of the property, the Government of Punjab started proceedings for declaring the land surplus and the Collector, Agrarian, Hoshiapur, vide his order dated 28.6.1976, declared 20.0943 standard acres out of the above property situated in village Khiala Balanda, as surplus, which was stated to be illegal and null & void.

(3.) Defendant Nos. 1 to 3, i.e., present appellant Nos. 1 to 3, resisted the suit and took preliminary objection that the civil Court had no jurisdiction to try it in view of Section 21 of the Punjab Land Reforms Act, 1972 (for short, 'the 1972 Act'). It was pleaded that Tikka Davinder Singh and thereafter Baba Madhusudan Singh Bedi were allotted lands in their personal name in lieu of the lands left by them in Pakistan and not as Manager or Mohtmim of any religious institution and that proceedings for declaring the land in their hands as surplus were rightly taken under the provisions of the 1972 Act; that Tikka Davinder Singh and Baba Madhusudan Singh had made certain transfers of their personal property and not of the property belonging to any shrine.