SHIROMANI GURDWARA PRABANDHAK COMMITTEE AMRITSAR Vs. SEWA SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) GURDWARA Sahib Padshahi Naumi in village Malikpur Khial, District Bhatinda is entered at Serial No. 387 in Schedule I of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925, hereinafter called the Act. On receiving a list of the properties belonging to this gurdwara, the State Government issued a notification under Section 3 (2) of the act, declaring this Gurdawara to be a Sikh Gurdwara. Later on, the Government published a list of the properties alleged to belong to the said Gurdwara. The State government also issued notices under Section 3 (3) of the Act to the persons, who were said to be in possession of some of the properties mentioned in the list so published. Among those persons, to whom notices were sent there were Sewa singh, his brother Jaswant Singh and Gurbachan Singh, uncle of the firsts two. These three, on receiving notices, made petitions Nos. 34, 36 and 35 respectively, under Section 5 of the Act praying that some parcels of land had been leased out to them for consideration for a period of 20 years from Sawni 1954 to Harhi 1974 by Mahant Gurdit Singh son of Mahant Jiwan Singh, the Mahant of the said institution. The period of lease had not expired and they, therefore, could not be ejected from the land till Harhi 1974. It was also claimed by them that the Gurdwara had no right, title or interest in the property and even if the land belonged to the gurdwara, their rights as lessees could not be affected. A prayer was made that it be declared that they were the lawful lessees of the land, that the Gurdwara had no rights in the said land and that they could not be ejected till the expiry of the period of their leases. It may be stated that Sewa Singh and Jaswant Singh had jointly taken on lease 74 Bighas (Kacha) of land on 23rd June, 1954, for Rs. 3,320/ -. Similarly, Gurbachan Singh had been given 148 Bighas (Kacha) and 18 biswas on lease for Rs. 6,640/ -. Both these were registered deeds and were for a period of 20 years, which had to end in Harhi 1974.

(2.) THESE petitions were sent to the Sikh Gurdwaras Tribunal, hereinafter referred to as the Tribunal, for trial. The Tribunal impleaded the Shiromani Gurdwara prabandhak Committee, hereinafter called the Committee, as a respondent to these petitions under Section 15 of the Act.

(3.) THE Committee controverted the claims of the petitioners and denied the right of the Mahant to grant leases for such a long period in lieu of small amounts. The land could easily fetch Rs. 2,000/- a year in the case of Sewa Singh and his brother Jaswant Singh and Rs. 3,000/- so far as Gurbachan Singh was concerned. It was alleged that these leases were detrimental to the interest of the Gurdwara, which was, consequently, not bound by them. The leases had not been honestly entered into and the transactions were mala fide, unconscionable and were of no effect. It was also said that the land belonged to the Gurdwara and the tenant could not deny the title of his landlord.