JATHEDAR SADHU SINGH Vs. CHARAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS second appeal by the plaintiffs arises out of a dispute between the parties over the proper administration of an institution situated in village Balsarai near beas in Amritsar District and variously known as Dharamsala, Dera or Gurdwara of baba Jaimal Singh. Shri Charan Singh defendant-respondent No. 1 is at present in charge of the control and management of the institution. The property attached to the institution and in the occupation of respondent No. 1 is shown in a plan filed with the plaint. A very small portion of this area, shown by green colour in this plan, has been described by the plaintiff-appellants as Darbar Sahib and is said to house the holy book (Guru Granth Sahib) of the community professing the Sikh religion. The suit was originally instituted by five Sikh proprietors of village balsarai but two other proprietors of the village belonging to the same community were added as plaintiffs in an amended plaint filed later on. Three persons claiming to belong to the Radhaswami faith or sect had been impleaded as defendants Nos. 2 to 4 on their application under Order 1, Rule 10 of the Code of civil Procedure. Plaintiff-appellant No. 1 and defendant-respondents Nos. 3 and 4 have died during the pendency of this appeal had no steps have been taken to bring their legal representatives on record within the time allowed by law. The question how far the proceedings have thereby abated would be discussed further on in this judgment.

(2.) THE suit, as now framed, is for the grant of a permanent injunction seeking to restrain defendant No. 1 from removing the Guru Granth Sahib from the institution and from interfering with the rights of the Sikh community of maintaining the holy book in the Darbar Sahib and of offering religious worship and reciting Guru granth Sahib and holding religious congregations and Sat Sang in the premises. It has been alleged in the plaint, amongst other things, that in the year 1897 A. D. the proprietary body of the village had gifted and dedicated 11 kanals and 16 marlas of shamilat land to a sage by the name of Bhai Jaimal Singh who used to practice spiritual sadhna at this place. He was a man with great spiritual attainments and was held in high esteem by the residents of the village. The dedication was in the name of Guru Granth Sahib and was for the purposes of a dharamsala to be run and managed by Baba Jaimal Singh. Mutation order, copy exhibit P-5, had been duly attested on 14-6-1897. The devolution of the office of the head of the institution has been by will from the last holder to the next and baba Charan Singh, respondent No. 1, is the fourth head of the institution in the line of succession. He is described to be a man of the world, lacking in dedication and true spirit of his predecessors. He is described to have started using the Dera in general and Darbar Singh in particular for the purposes for which these had not been originally dedicated. He is giving out that the maintaining of Guru Granth sahib and access to the institution of persons professing the Sikh religion depends on his sweet will and discretion. He has started interfering with the rights of these persons to recite Granth Sahib and to hold religious congregations in the institution. Hence this suit seeking to original purposes and objects of the dedication.

(3.) DEFENDANT respondent No. 1 had denied in the written statement filed by him that Guru Granth Sahib had ever been installed in the institution. The mutation order attested in 1897 was said to have wrongly described the dedication to be in favour of Guru Granth Sahib and the necessary correction of entries was described to have been made in 1921 without objection by any one concerned. A mutation about the correction of these entries, copy Exhibit D-1/p-3, was said to have been attested in an open gathering of the village on 16-5-1921. Thereafter the institution is being described in the revenue records as Gurdwara of Baba Jaimal singh dedicated to the Radhaswami faith. In the Revenue Officer's order sanctioning the mutation of entries, it is mentioned that the people gathered there were unanimous in saying that the institution was wrongly described to have the name of Guru Granth Sahib and that it had connections with the Radhaswami faith. The institution had been acquiring further lands in later years by exchange, purchase and bequests etc. vide mutation orders, Exhibits P-4 (Exchange, 191112), d-2 (Sale, 1938), D-3 (Will, 1951) and D-5 (Dedications by respondent No. 1) in favour of the registered charitable society, 1959 etc. etc. It is admitted that sat Guru Maharaj Baba Jaimal Singh was a great pious saint with high spiritual and intellectual attainments. It is, however, denied that he had ever recited Guru granth Sahib or had allowed that holy book to the installed anywhere in the institution. He was preaching the Radhaswami faith and was the Supreme head of the Math. He was holding Sat Sangs according to the views and beliefs of this faith. Defendants Nos. 2 to 4 who had been impleaded on their own application had filed a separate written statement in which they had claimed that they were professing the Radhaswami faith.