HARBANT DASS Vs. GURDWARA PARBANDHAK COMMITTEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment disposes of FAO No. 414 of 1980 and F.A. No. 262 of 1981 since common questions of law and facts arise for determination therein. F.A.O. No. 414 of 1980 is directed against the order of the Sikh Gurdwaras Tribunal, Punjab (the Tribunal, for short) dismissing the petition under Section 10 of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 (the Act, for short) filed by the appellant. In F.A.O. No. 262 of 1981, the appellant has impugned the decree passed by the Tribunal in a suit under section 25-A of the Act filed by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar (the Committee, for short) against the appellant. The decision rendered in F.A.O. No. 414 of 1980 will decide the fate of F.A.O. No. 262 of 1981.

(2.) Facts first. The appellant filed a petition under section 10 of the Act claiming that property included in Punjab Government's Notification No. 2270 G.P. dated October 6, 1961 claimed to be the property of "Gurdwara Sahib Dharamsala Nishan Sahib" situated within the revenue estate of in Bajwa Tehsil Malerkotla, District Sangrur, to be his own property; that the property mentioned in the Notification does not belong to the Sikh Gurdwara; that the land in dispute and the muafi was given as a gift by late Nawab of Malerkotla Nawab Sher Mohd. Khan Sahib to Gobind Dass Faqir Dewana, an ancestor of he appellant in 1920 B.K. and that the institution, in fact, was known as Makan, i.e. house, and Dharamsala i.e. the resting place, of Baba Aungad Dass, a remote ancestor of the appellant, who was renowned celebrated saint of Dewana Sect; that the saint and the Dewana Sect had no connection whatsoever with the Sikh community; that Dewana Sadhus have, and are entirely a different and distinct religious order; that the Sadhus have their own Gurus and mode of worship and living which is entirely divergent and often in conflict with Sikh tenets; that in the sacred memory of the Dewana saint, a Smadh and Dharamsala was erected on the site which has remained in exclusive ownership and possession of the ancestors of the appellant from time immemorial; that the Dewana saints would gather every now and then at this place, it gained in a few years time the importance and sanctity of a place of pilgrimage for the Bheikh of Dewanian Sadhus; that it was on this ground that the entire agricultural land measuring 608 Bighas, 13 Biswas, as described in paragraph 2 of the petition, was given a as gift and donated as muafi by the late Nawab of Malerkotla Nawab Sher Mohd. Khan Sahib to Gobind Dass Faquir Dewana Sada Dass, an ancestor of the appellant, in 1920 B.K (equivalent to 1863 A.D.); that the entire land is owned and possessed by the direct descendants of Aungad Dass and Gobind Dass from generation to generation and its income has been spent on their maintenance and that of the Smadh. Makan (house) and Dharamsala (resting place) and other religious sites of the Sadhus of Dewana Seet exclusively; that during the settlement of 1934 B.K. (equivalent of 1877 A.D.) the said land was mutated in the name of Gurcharan Dass as Muafi for the maintenance of House, Dharamsala known as that of Bawa Aungad Dass and his Nishan and Smadh; that the mutation was sanctioned under the orders of Council of Regency, the ruling Executive Head of the erstwhile Patiala State; that Sanad Muafi dated Maghaar 1, 1965 B. K. (corresponding to January 13. 1909) establishes that the entire land was domated in the form of a personal gift for the maintenance of solely Makan (house), Dharamsala (resting place) known as that belonging to Bawa Aungad Dass, his Nishan and Smadh, which were then owned and managed by Mahant Gurcharan Dass son of Hari Anand Ram, an ancestor of the appellant; that the word 'Nishan Smadh' came to be tagged to the institution in the later years when a sectarian flag of Bawa Aungad Dass and his followers and descendants as opposed to the religious flag of Sikhs came to be flown; that it is customary with Dewana Saints to fly their own flag as an emblem of their Bheikh which is entirely distinct and different from those of the Sikhs; that it is adorned by peacock feathers on the top and is of strikingly Bhagwa (Safron) colour of different shape and form; that the pedigree-table from 1st settlement upto date of the holders and owners of the property in dispute proved that the same had been owned and possessed by the ancesstors of the appellant one after the other and their male lineal descendants upto the present time; that the properties are now owned and occupied by the appellant as an heir successor of Bawa Aungad Dass, the original owner of the properties, and is thus the ancestral property; that the site, building arid agricultural land never belonged in the past or belongs in the present, to the Sikh Gurdwara for the reasons:

(3.) Written statement dated August 12, 1970 was filed on behalf of the Committee and it reads as under :"1 That the copy of the petition under Section 10(1) and (2) supplied to the respondent Committee shows that it is a composite petition both under Sections 8 and 10 of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act. The heading deals with the properties consisting of the building of the Gurdwara, land and the agricultural land measuring 608 Bighas and 13 Biswas in village Ina Bajwa. Only a part of para 8 and para 9 of this petition deals with the question of landed property in dispute. In reply to para No. 8 it is submitted that as claimed in part 4 of the notification No. 2270 C.P. dated 6th October, 1961 is the building of the Gurdwara Sahib Dharamsala Nishan Sahib. The agricultural land measuring 608 Bighas and 13 Biswas is the property of the Sikh Gurdwara and the petitioner has no concern therewith. The petitioner has no right, title or interest in the property, which is shown in the revenue record to be the property of the Gurdwara. The petition, therefore, merits dismissal because the petitioner has no right therein. He is only a servitor of the Gurdwara.