JUDGMENT

Arijit Pasayat, J.-These appeals by Special Leave arise from a common judgment of a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Before the High Court appeals were filed challenging the order dated 9.11.1981 passed by the Sikh Gurdwara Tribunal, Punjab, Chandigarh (in short the Tribunal ) in Petition Nos. 119 and 121 of 1962.

2. Synoptical resume of the factual position is as follows:

Acting on a petition under Section 7(1) of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 (in short the Act ) made by 60 persons, who claimed to be worshippers, for declaring that the institution in question (known as Gurdwara Guru Granth Sahib) situated in the revenue estate of Jhandawala district Bhatinda to be a Sikh Gurdwara, the Government of Punjab published a notification No. 1216-G.P., dated 23rd June, 1961 under Section 7(3) of the Act describing the said institution as a Sikh Gurdwara. When the petition under Section 7(1) was notified, Mahant Harnam Singh, Chela Narain Singh, Nirmala Sadhu the original respondent (who has died in the meantime and is represented by legal representatives) filed a counter petition under Section 8 of the Act claiming that the institution in dispute was not a Sikh