TMI Blog2000 (3) TMI 1083X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... k but is reckoned as a living guru. The deep faith of every earnest follower, when his pure conscience meets the divine under-current emanating from their Guru, produces a feeling of sacrifice and surrender and impels him to part with or gift out his wealth to any charity may be for gurdwaras, dharamshalas etc.. Such parting spiritualises such follower for his spiritual upliftment, peace, tranquility and enlightens him with resultant love and universalism. Such donors in the past, raised number of Gurdwaras. They gave their wealth in trust for its management to the trustees to subserve their desire. They expected trustees to faithfully implement the objectives for which the wealth was entrusted. When selfishness invades any trustee, the core of trust starts leaking out. To stop such leakage, legislature and courts step in. This is what was happening in the absence of any organised management of Gurudwaras, when trustees were either mismanaging or attempting to usurp such trusts. The Sikh Gurdwaras and Shrines Act 1922 (VI of 1922) was enacted to meet the situation. It seems, even this failed to satisfy the aspirations of the Sikhs. The main reason being that it did not establish an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ffice-holders or by 20 or more worshippers of the gurdwara, which they were not. The Tribunal held that the petitioners before it (respondents here), admitted in their cross- examination that the disputed premises was being used by them as their residential house that there was no object of worship in the premises, neither they were performing any public worship nor they were managing it. So it held they were not hereditary office holders, as they neither managed it nor performed any public worship. Thus, their petition under Section 8 was rejected on 9th February, 1965 by holding that they have no locus standi. Aggrieved by this they filed first appeal being FAO No. 40 of 1965 which was also dismissed by the High Court on 24th March, 1976, which became final. Thereafter, the Tribunal took the petition under Section 10 in which the stand of SGPC was that the land and the buildings were the properties of Gurdwara Sahib Dharamshala Guru Granth Sahib at Bilaspur. The respondents and their predecessors along with their family members had all along been its managers and they had no personal rights in it. The Tribunal framed two issues: (1) What right, title or interest have the petit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d by the respective parties. In jamabandi Ex. P-1 of 1961-62 BK, (which would be 1904 AD) Mangal Dass and Sunder Dass, Bhagat Ram sons of Gopi Ram Faqir Udasi were mentioned as owners in possession of the land. They had also mortgaged part of this land to some other persons. This village Bilaspur where the disputed gurdwara exists formed part of the erstwhile Patiala Estate. The then ruler of the Patiala Estate issued Farman- Shahi dated 18th April, 1921. Its contents are quoted hereunder: In future, instructions be issued that so long the appointment of a Mahant is not approved by Ijlas-I-khas through Deori Mulla, until the time, the Mahant is entitled to receive turban, shawl or Bandhan or Muafi etc. from the Government, no property or Muafi shall be entered in his name in the revenue papers. It should also be mentioned that the land which pertains to any Dera should not be considered as the property of any Mahant, nor the same should be shown in the revenue papaers as the prope y of the Mahant, but these should be entered as belonging to the Dera under the management of the Mahant and that the Mahants shall not be entitled to sell or mortgage the land of the Dera. Revenue ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Sahib Barajman Dharamshala Deh by deleting the name of Atma Ram and others from the column of ownership of the land. He further observed, so far as the question of appoinment of Manager or Mohatmim was concerned that it was to be decided by the Deori Mualla as the case about this was pending before the Deori Mualla. Similarly, in the other mutation No,. 693 which is Ex. 9 in 27th Maghar 1983 (1926 AD) also, mutation was ordered by removal of the name of Narain Dass, Bhagat Ram sons of Gopi Ram in favour of Guru Granth Sahib Barajman Dharamshala Deh. Since that date till the filing of the petitions by the respondents under Sections 8 and 10 of the Act entries in the ownership column of the land continued in the name of Guru Granth Sahib Barajman Dharamshala Deh and no objection was filed either by the ancestors of respondents or respondents themselves. It was for the first time objection was raised by respondents through their counsel before the High Court in FAO No. 449 of 1978 regarding validity of Ex. P 8-9 contending that the entry in the revenue records in the name of Guru Granth Sahib was void as Guru Granth Sahib was not a juristic person. The case of the respondents was ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... utations, Exhibits P.8 and P.9, which are in the name of Guru Granth Sahib, since Guru Granth Sahib is not a juristic person, any mutation a sanctioned in its name in the present case was of no consequence. There is no other cogent evidence except the said mutations relied upon by the Tribunal in that behalf. Similar was the position as regards the building. In that behalf, the Tribunal relied upon the notification issued earlier. The same being not conclusive, there was not other reliable evidence to conclude that the building formed part of the Sikh Gurdwara, notified under Section. In these circumstances, I concur with the view taken by M.M.Punchhi, J. in the order dated December 16, 1986. The foundation of his decision on merits is based on the finding that Guru Granth Sahib is not a juristic person and hence Exs. P8 and P9, the mutations in its name were not sustainable. The present appellants preferred Special Leave Petition No. 7803 of 1988 in this Court, which was dismissed in default on 16th November, 1995 and its restoration application was also dismissed on 19th August, 1996. In this petition it was specifically stated that the present Civil Appeal No. 3968 of 1987 is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y, where an individuals interaction fell short, to upsurge social developments, cooperation of a larger circle of individuals was necessitated. Thus, institutions like corporations and companies were created, to help the society in achieving the desired result. The very constitution of State, municipal corporation, company etc. are all creations of the law and these Juristic Persons arose out of necessities in the human development. In other words, they were dressed in a cloak to be recognised in law to be a legal unit. Corpus Juris Secundum, Vol. LXV, page 40 says: Natural person. A natural person is a human being; a man, woman, or child, as opposed to a corporation, which has a certain personality impressed on it by law and is called an artificial person. In the C.J.S. definition Person it is stated that the word person, in its primary sense, means natural person, but that the generally accepted meaning of the word as used in law includes natural persons and artificial, conventional, or juristic persons. Corpus Juris Secundum, Vol. VI, page 778 says: Artificial persons. Such as are created and devised by human laws for the purposes of society and government, which are ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nty men may form a corporation which may sue and be sued in the corporate name. An idol may be regarded as a legal persona in itself, or a particular fund may be incorporated. It is clear that neither the idol nor the fund can carry out the activities incidental to litigation or other activities incidental to the carrying on of legal relationships, e.g., the signing of a contract; and, of necessity, the law recognises certain human agents as representatives of the idol or of the fund. The acts of such agents, however (within limits set by the law and when they are acting as such), are imputed to the legal persona of the idol and are not the juristic acts of the human agents themselves. This is no mere academic distinction, for it is the legal persona of the idol that is bound to the legal relationships created, not that of the agent. Legal personality then refers to the particular device by which the law creates or recognizes units to which it ascribes certain powers and capacities. Analytical and Historical Jurisprudence, 3rd Edn. At page 357 describes person: We may, therefore, define a person for the purpose of jurisprudence as any entity (not necessarily a human being) to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sess any property. In Masjid Shahid Ganj Ors. Vs. Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Amritsar, AIR 1938 Lahore 369, a Full Bench of that High Court held that a mosque was a juristic person. This decision was taken in appeal to the Privy Council which confirmed the said judgment. Sir George Rankin observed: In none of these cases was a mosque party to the suit, and in none except perhaps the last is the fictitious personality attributed to the mosque as a matter of decision. But so far as they go these cases support the recognition as a fictitious person of a mosque as an institution-apparently hypostatizing an abstration. This, as the learned Chief Justice in the present case has pointed out, is very different from conferring personality upon a building so as to deprive it of its character as immovable property. There may be an endowment for a pious or religious purpose. It may be for an idol, mosque, church etc.. Such endowed property has to be used for that purpose. The installation and adoration of an idol or any image by a Hindu denoting any god is merely a mode through which his faith and belief is satisfied. This has led to the recognition of an idol as a jurist ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ated idol in a Hindu temple is a juristic person and approved the observation of West J. in the following passage made in Manohar Ganesh Vs. Lakshmiram, ILR 12 Bom 247; The Hindu Law, like the Roman Law and those dervied from it, recognises not only incorporate bodies with rights of property vested in the Corporation apart from its individual members but also juridical persons called foundations. A Hindu who wishes to establish a religious or charitable institution may according to his law express his purpose and endow it and the ruler will give effect to the bounty or at least, protect it so far at any rate as is consistent with his own Dharma or conception or morality. A trust is not required for the purpose; the necessity of a trust in such a case is indeed a peculiarity and a modern peculiarity of the English Law. In early law a gift placed as it was expressed on the altar of God, sufficed it to convey to the Church the lands thus dedicated. It is consistent with the grants having been made to the juridical person symbolised or personified in the idol. {Emphasis supplied} Thus, a trust is not necessary in Hindu Law though it may be required under English Law. In fact, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s true that they would not see his body in its physical manifestation but he would be ever present among the Khalsas. Whenever the Sikhs needed guidance or counsel, they should assemble before the Granth in all sincerity and decide their future line of action in the light of teachings of the Master, as embodied in the Granth. The noble ideas embodied in the Granth would live for ever and show people the path to bliss and happiness. (Emphasis supplied) The aforesaid conspectus visualises how Juristic Person was coined to subserve to the needs of the society. With the passage of time and the changes in the socio-political scenario, collective working instead of individualised working became inevitable for the growth of the organised society. This gave manifestation to the concept of Juristic Person as an unit in various forms and for various purposes and this is now a well recognised phenomena. This collective working, for a greater thrust and unity gave birth to cooperative societies, for the success and implementation of public endowment it gave rise to public trusts and for purpose of commercial enterprises the juristic person of companies were created, so on and so forth. Such cr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l, the temple is only a building of mortar, cement and bricks which has no sacredness or sanctity for adoration. Once recognised as a Juristic Person, the idol can hold property and gainfully enlarge its coffers to maintain itself and use it for the benefit of its followers. On the other hand in the case of mosque there can be no idol or any images of worship, yet the mosque itself is conferred with the same sacredness as temples with idol, based on faith and belief of its followers. Thus the case of a temple without idol may be only brick, mortar and cement but not the mosque. Similar is the case with the Chruch. As we have said, each religion have different nuclei, as per their faith and belief for treating any entity as a unit. Now returning to the question, whether Guru Granth Sahib could be a Juristic Person or not, or whether it could be placed on the same pedestal, we may first have a glance at the Sikh religion. To comprehend any religion fully may indeed be beyond the comprehension of any one and also beyond any judicial scrutiny for it has its own limitations. But its silver lining could easily be picked up. In the Sikh religion, Guru is revered as the highest reverent ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... th Sahib would be the vibrating Guru. He declared that henceforth it would be your Guru from which you will get all your guidance and answer. It is with this faith that it is worshiped like a living guru. It is with this faith and conviction, when it is installed in any gurudwara it becomes a sacred place of worship. Sacredness of Gurudwara is only because of placement of Guru Granth Sahib in it. This reverential recognition of Guru Granth Sahib also opens the hearts of its followers to pour their money and wealth for it. It is not that it needs it, but when it is installed, it grows for its followers, who through their obeisance to it, sanctify themselves and also for running the langer which is an inherent part of a Gurdwara. In this background, and on over all considerations, we have no hesitation to hold that Guru Granth Sahib is a Juristic Person. It cannot be equated with an Idol as idol worship is contrary to Sikhism. As a concept or a visionary for obeisance, the two religions are different. Yet, for its legal recognition as a juristic person, the followers of both the religions give them respectively the same reverential value. Thus the Guru Granth Sahib it has all the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... it appointed through Court. So, if entrustment is to any juristic person, mere absence of manager would not negate the existence a juristic person. We, therefore, disagree with the High Court on this crucial aspect. In Words and Phrases Permanent Edition, Vol. 14A, at page 167:- Endowment means property or pecuniary means bestowed as a permanent fund, as endowment of a college, hospital or library, and is understood in common acceptance as a fund yielding income for support of an institution. The further difficulty the learned Judges of the High Court felt was that there could not be two Juristic Persons in the same building. This they considered would lead to two juristic persons in one place viz., gurudwara and Guru Grant Sahib. This again, in our opinion, is a misconceived notion. They are no two Juristic Persons at all. In fact both are so interwoven that they cannot be separated as pointed by Tiwana, J. in his separate judgment. The installation of Guru Granth Sahib is the nucleus or nectar of any gurudwara. If there is no Guru Granth Sahib in a Gurdwara it cannot be termed as gurudwara. When one refers a building to be a gurudwara, he refers it so only because Guru G ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... reasons, we do not find any strength in the reasoning of High Court in recording a finding that the Guru Grant Sahib not a Juristic Person. The said finding is not sustainable both on fact and law. Thus, we unhesitantly hold Guru Granth Sahib to be a Juristic Person. Next challenge is that the basis for mutating of the name of Guru Granth Sahib Birajman Dharamshala Deh, by deleting the name of the ancestors of the respondents, based on Faraman-I-shahi issued by the then ruler of the Patiala State dated 18.4.1921 is liable to be set aside, as this Faraman-i-Shahi did not direct the recording of the name of Guru Granth Sahib. For ready reference the said Faraman-i-Shahi is again quoted hereunder:- In future, instructions be issued that so long the appointment of a Mahant is not approved by Ijlas-I-Khas through Deori Mualla, until the time, the Mahant is entitled to receive turban, shawl or Bandhan or Muafi etc. from the Government, no property or Muafi shall be entered in his name in the revenue papers. It should also be mentioned that the land which pertains to any Dera should not be considered as the property of any Mahant, nor the same should be shown in the revenue pa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed land entered in their name in the revenue records which was an attempt to usurp the property. The Revenue Officer after enquiry held that Atma Ram and other ancestors of respondents admitted that this land was given without making any payment and was specifically meant for providing food and shelter to the travellers which function they were not performing. It was only after such an enquiry, he ordered the mutation by ordering deleting of the name of Atma Ram and others. With reference to the question of appointment of a manager, he recorded that this had to be decided by Deori Mualla, where such a case about this was pending. Similar was the position in the other mutation proceedings about which an application was also made to the Revenue Officer, where the names of Narain Dass, Bhagat Ram sons of Gopi Ram were deleted and aforesaid name was mutated resulting into Ex. 9. So, the mutation of name was not because of direction issued by the Farman-I-Shahi. So no error could be said to have been committed, when Ex.8 and Ex.9, viz., mutations were recorded. Faraman-I-Shahi if at all may be said to have led to the enquiry but it was not the basis. This takes us to the last point f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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