JUDGMENT

Coldstream, J. - In a petition presented to the Local Government under Section 7, Sikh Gurdwaras Act, a prayer was made to have a Gurdwara known as Rang Mahal in Gurdaspur town declared to be a Sikh Gurdwara. On the petition being notified Tarlok Nath, the Mahant in charge of the institution, submitted a counter-petition under Section 8 of the Act, claiming that the institution was not a Sikh Gurdwara but a Hindu temple containing a Lingam and Hindu idols used for worship by the Mahant's family and resorted to for tonsure ceremonies by Hindus. This petition was duly forwarded to the Sikh Gurdwaras Tribunal under the provisions of Section 14 for disposal. It was opposed by the Shiromani Gurdwaras Parbhandhak Committee and two of the signatories to the petition under Section 7. The Tribunal decided that the institution was not a Sikh Gurdwara. Against this decision the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandhak Committee (to whom I will refer hereafter as the objectors) have appealed.

2. The objectors' case was that the institution fell within each of the four definitions of a Sikh Gurdwara contained in Clauses (ii), (iii), (iv) and (v), Sub-section 2 of Section 16 of the Act. The judgmen