BHAGWAN SINGH Vs. SHIROMANI GURDWARA PARBANDHAK COMMITTEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) SECTION 7(1) of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 (Punjab Act No. VIII of 1925 as amended up to date), hereinafter called the Act, provides inter alia that any fifty or more eligible Sikh worshippers of a gurdwara may forward a petition to the State Government praying to have the gurdwara declared to be a Sikh Gurdwara. Sub -section (2) of Section 7 prescribe the contents of such a petition and of the lists to be appended thereto. Section 7(3) enjoins on the State Government the duty to notify the petition with its accompanying list by publication of the same and also give such other notice thereof as may be prescribed. Sub -section (4) of that section requires the State Government to send by registered post a notice of the claim to any right, title or interest included in the list to each of the persons named in the list as being in possession of such right, title or interest. The publication of the notice under Sub -section (3) furnishes statutory conclusive proof of compliance with the requirements of Sub -sections (1) to (4) of Section 7 by operation of Sub -section (5) thereof.

(2.) THE notification under Section 7(3) of the Act in respect of the gurdwara known as Dharamshala Bhai Bir Singh, Patiala, was issued by the Punjab Government and published in the official gazette of the State on December 22, 1961. Section 8 of the Act provides inter alia that when such a notification [notification under Sub -section (3) of Section 7] is published in respect of any gurdwara, any hereditary office -holder of the gurdwara may forward a petition to the State Government (which must reach the Secretary to the Government within ninety days from the date of the publication of the notification) claiming that the gurdwara is not a Sikh Gurdwara; and may in such petition make a further claim that the hereditary office -holder may be restored to office on the ground that such gurdwara is not a Sikh Gurdwara.

(3.) IN pursuance of the provisions of Section 14(1) of the Act requiring the State Government to forward all petitions received by it under the provisions of Sections 8 and 10 (amongst some other sections) to the Sikh Gurdwaras Tribunal constituted under Section 12 of the Act (hereinafter called the Tribunal), the State Government forwarded the Appellant's petition under Section 8 to the Tribunal with the State Government's forwarding letter dated February 2, 1963. Sub -section (2) of Section 14 provides that the forwarding of the petition by the State Government is conclusive proof that the petition was received by the Government within the prescribed time. In exercise of the powers conferred on the Tribunal under Section 15(1) of the Act, the Tribunal allowed the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar (hereinafter called the Respondent) to become a party to the proceedings before the Tribunal to contest the petition. While contesting the petition, the Respondent in its initial written statement dated 20th July, 1964 took up a preliminary objection to the following effect: