LAHORE HIGH COURT

                                                 Gurmukh Singh

                                                         Vs

                                              Risaldar Deva Singh

                                                 (Coldstream, J.)

                                                   12.01.1937

                                                  JUDGMENT

Coldstream, J.

1. This is an appeal by Gurmukh Singh, manager of an institution known as the dharamsala (or
dera) Bhai Vir Singh in the village of Patto Hira Singh in Moga Tahsil of the Ferozepore.
District, against a judgment by the Sikh Gurdwaras Tribunal dismissing a petition presented by
him under Section 8, Sikh Gurdwaras Act, praying that the institution in dispute should not be
declared to be a Sikh Gurdwara. The evidence in the case has been described in detail in the
judgment of Rai Bahadur Dwarka Parsad in which the learned President and the third member of
the Tribunal concurred, and I do not propose to describe it again here. It is contended before us
by the counsel for the appellant that there are circumstances proved or admitted which are
consistent with this institution not having been founded for public worship by Sikhs, but as a
private charitable institution, for instance, the fact that there is admittedly another institution in
the village which is a Sikh Gurdwara. It is also contended that there is no direct evidence of the
purpose for which the institution was founded and in this connection our attention has been
drawn to a judgment of this Court in which it has been pointed out that in order to bring an
institution within the definition of Clause (3), Sub-section (2) of Section 16, it is necessary to
prove not only that the institution has been used for public Sikh worship but also, independently,
that it was founded for such worship.

2. The fact that there is another institution in the village which is a Sikh Gurdwara does not help
the appellant. The evidence is that the village proprietors are all Sikhs and I can see no reason
why they should not have two Sikh Gurdwaras in their village. It is proved that Vir Singh, the
founder and first manager of the institution, described his occupation as a granthi in 1852. From
this, I think, we may justly infer that at that time the Guru Granth Sahib was being read by him.
Prom time to time the proprietors of the village have made presents of land to the institution. In
three cases, the gifts were described in the revenue records as having been made in favour of the
Granth Sahib. The first of these gifts, it appears, was made in the time of Vir Singh himself,
although the gift was not recorded by mutation until after his death. As regards the necessity of
an independent finding regarding the purpose for which the dharamsala was established, I am
unable to see why the Tribunal should not infer what this purpose was from evidence showing
the purpose for which it has been used for a long time. Each case has to be decided on the whole
evidence put forward by the parties in that particular case. In this case I have no doubt that the
finding of the Tribunal is correct and I would therefore dismiss the appeal with costs.

Jai Lal, J.

3. I agree.
.