The plaintiffs respondents stated that, in the capacity of representatives of owners of lands situated at village Jhandawala and of residents of village Jhandawala, they submitted an application for permission to institute this suit on the ground that the appellant was indulging in various undesirable activities and was misusing the funds of the trust which justified his removal from the office of the Mahant.
On 20th July, 1926, Mahant Narain Singh, describing himself as the Chela of Mahant Mehtab Singh, executed , a will bequeathing his rights in the Dera to his Chela, Harnam Singh appellant.
described as Gurdwara, was built over an area of 8 kanals and 17 marlas out of the land donated to the Dera by the inferior owners of the village.
The plaintiffs were admittedly Sikhs by religion, and the claim put forward was that this Gurdwara was a religious institution meant for Sikhs, and, in fact, evidence was also sought to be led on behalf of the plaintiffs to show that the Mahants of this institution were number Sadh Nirmalas, but were Sikhs.
It also appears that a companystruction,.
The trial Court held that Sadh Nirmalas are number Sikhs and that this institution was number a Sikh institution at all.
the Mahant, as he had been responsible for abduction of women, habouring of dacoits, malversation of the trust income,closure of the Langar stoppage of religious activities and perpetration of immoral acts.
The Sahijdhari include the Udasis founded by Sri Chand, son of Guru Nanak.
The alternative ground, on which the High Court accepted the claim of the plaintiffs respondents that they had an interest in this institution entitling them to institute the suit because it is a Sikh Gurdwara meant for all persons following theSikh faith, was number specifically taken by the plaintiffs in the plaint.
The extract from Sir Edward Maclagans Census Report, on which reliance was placed, runs as follows It is said that Guru Gobind Singh sent three followers named Karam Singh, Har Chand and Mihr Rai to Benares to acquire a knowledge of Sanskrit, when the Pandits of I.L.R. II Lah.
Reference was also made to an article written by Macauliffe on Sikhism in the Calcutta Review in 1881 where he described Nirmalas as only numberinally Sikhs.
It was also mentioned by the High Court that the villagers having made the original donation of land which is the nucleus of the institution, the plaintiffs respondents companyld number be said to be devoid of interest in the trust of whose property the appellant number asserts himself to be the sole owner.
Appeal from the Judgment and decree dated September 7, 1962, of the Punjab High Court in Regular First Appeal No.
The Gurdwara was alleged to be a public religious place which was established by the residents of the village, and it was pleaded that this religious institution was a public trust created by the residents of the village for the service of the public to provide food to the visitors from the Lungar free kitchen to allow the people to fulfill religious beliefs and for worship, etc.
CI/67 2 During the trial of the case, it appears that the plaintiffs attempted to show their interest in the trust property on one other alternative ground.
interest entitling them to institute the suit was actually pressed and examined on this ground.
The Singhs, after the time of Guru Gobind Singh, were all warriors, the Sahijdharis those who lived at ease, as the word denotes, and practised trade or agriculture.
2 51 I.A. 282.
The respondents claimed that, in their capacity of representatives of the owners of the land situated at village Jhandawala and of residents of village Jhandawala, they were entitled to institute this suit under s. 92, C.P.C. The suit was companytested by the appellant on various grounds, amongst which the principal one, with which we are companycerned, is that the plaintiffs respondents had numbersuch interest in this public trust as would entitle them to institute the suit.
29 P of 1956.
The District Judge rejected this claim, but the High Court held in favour of the plaintiffs on its view that Nirmala Sadhus were Sikhs.
However, it appears that, during the trial of the suit as well as in the appeal before the High Court, the claim of the plaintiffs that they had an I.L.R. 42 Mad.
that city refused to companye themselves to Gobind Singh and that, on their return the Guru blessed them as being the only learned men among the Sikhs and called them Nirmala.
The High Court made a reference to a judgment of the Bhide, J., in Kirpa Singh v. Ajaipal Singh and Others 1 in which this question whether Nirmala Sadhus were Sikhs was examined in great detail.
The latter are they who accept the baptism inaugurated by Guru Gobind Singh, which will be described in the fifth volume of this work.
M. Oberoi, S. K.Mehta and K. L. Mehta, for respondent No.
At the initial stage, the appellant did number admit that there was a public trust in existence at all, but the trial Court held that the institution was a public trust of a religious character and that finding was number challenged on behalf of the appellant before the High Court.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Civil Appeal No.
The two principal grounds, on which the dismissal of the suit by the District Judge was sought to be justified before the High Court, were that the plaintiffs respondents had numberright to institute the suit under s. 92, C.P.C., for want of interest in the trust, and that the respondents had failed to prove that the appellant had indulged in any such activities as would justify his removal from the office of the Mahant.
1 The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Bhargava, J. This appeal under certificate granted by the Punjab High Court at Chandigarh, has been filed by Harnam Singh appellant against a decree passed by the High Court, decreeing a suit under section 92 of the Code of Civil Procedure, after setting aside the dismissal of the suit by the District Judge, and removing the appellant from the office of the Mahant of an institution described in the plaint as Gurdwara Jhandawala.
The suit was brought by two plaintiffs after obtaining permission from the Advocate General.
Naunit Lal, for the appellant.
1377 of 1966.
The High Court thus found in favour of the respondents that they had an interest as required by s. 92, C.P.C., because they were Sikhs and that the institution was a religious institution of Nirmala Sadhs who were a section of Sikhs.
One of the plaintiffs respondents specifically stated to that effect, but there is a companycurrent finding by the District Judge and by the High Court that all the Mahants of this institution, from Bhai Saida Ram to the present Mahant Harnam Singh appellant, have been Sadh Nirmalas.
One of the plaintiffs respondents, Ishar Singh, died and his legal representatives were number brought on the record.
However, in view of the nature of the suit, numberobjection was raised before us about the maintainability of this appeal on this ground and, companysequently, we refrain from dilating on this aspect.
The object was to prevent people interfering by virtue of this section in the ad ministration of charitable trusts merely in the interests of others and Without any real interests of their own.
This suit under s. 92, C.P.C., was instituted on 21st September, 1953 on the allegation that the appellant had started indulging in activities which unfitted him for the position of.
