J&K&L High Court Flags Infighting In Jammu Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, Seeks Details Of District Gurdwaras

Update: 2026-09-15 13:20 GMT

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The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has sought management and audit details concerning every Gurdwara in Jammu district while examining a dispute among elected office-bearers of the District Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee, Jammu, after expressing serious concern that the factions were pursuing personal politics at the expense of the statutory body and the Sikh Sangat.

The Court was hearing a petition under Article 227 of the Constitution arising from a civil suit instituted in the Committee's name by its Vice-President and Secretary. The suit challenged the Committee President's authorisation permitting an elected member to appoint a local management committee for Gurdwara Chatti Pathshahi, Talab Tillo, Jammu.

A Single Judge Bench of Justice Rahul Bharti observed: “This Court has been caught in a serious and disturbing concern as to whether the District Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee Jammu's office bearers and its elected members are acting out of their personal politics at the expense of the interest of the Committee in particular and of Sikh Sangat of entire District Jammu in general. In fact, this Court has no hesitation to rush an observance that scenario presenting itself is that of fence trying to eat the crop.”

The District Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee, Jammu, was constituted through an election and comprised a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Joint Secretary, Treasurer and six other elected members.

The dispute arose when the President authorised an elected member to appoint and announce a local committee for Gurdwara Chatti Pathshahi. The authorised member subsequently appointed a President and Secretary for the local Gurdwara committee.

The Committee's Vice-President and Secretary instituted a civil suit seeking declarations that the authorisation and consequential appointments were void. They also sought an injunction restraining the local appointees from acting as President and Secretary of the Gurdwara.

The Sub-Judge granted interim protection by staying the communications and restraining the local appointees from taking over the Gurdwara's affairs. On appeal, the Additional District Judge reversed the order and dismissed the temporary injunction application. The petitioners consequently approached the High Court seeking restoration of the trial court's order.

The High Court traced the continued operation of the Jammu & Kashmir Sikh Gurdwaras and Religious Endowment Act, 1973, after the reorganisation of the erstwhile State. It noted that Section 10 provides for establishing District Prabhandhak Committees for administering Sikh Gurdwaras, while Section 14 confers powers concerning their management, properties, income and religious observances.

The Court framed the central statutory issue in the following terms: “The legal situation which pops up for the consideration of this Court is as to whether the mandate of administration and management of a Gurdwara/s by a given District Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee as envisaged under section 14 of the Jammu & Kashmir Sikh Gurdwaras and Religious Endowment Act, 1973 provides a scope for Gurdwara-wise nominated/constituted or elected local administrative and management body and if so then to what extent a District Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee can exercise its authority to constitute and establish a local Gurdwara Committee qua each and every Gurdwara and the modalities of constituting and establishing such a local body.”

The Court described the litigation as reflecting a “vertical schism” within the District Committee, with its Vice-President and Secretary on one side and its President and an elected member on the other. It also noted that the elected Treasurer and Joint Secretary had been kept outside the proceedings.

The Court found it necessary to bring the complete factual position on record before adjudicating the petition and the underlying suit. It observed: “From a bare reading of the plaint, the written statement thereto, memo of appeal as well as the present petition, this Court is of a firm view that both sides are resorting, be it by default or design, to misrepresentation and smoky display of facts and it is here where this Court's responsibility sets in to first bring all the true state of facts on board for the purpose of adjudication not only of this matter but also of the civil suit which otherwise is supposed not to have come into existence in case there would have been a duly constituted Board under the Jammu & Kashmir Sikh Gurdwaras and Religious Endowment Act, 1973 which then would have the overarching jurisdiction to set the infighting of the Committee to course correction with power to suspend/removal to the Committee.”

The Court further recorded that the ongoing conflict risked reducing the Gurdwaras to institutions governed by the office-bearers' preferences in selecting persons to manage their daily affairs and funds.

The Court directed the parties to disclose how many Gurdwaras in Jammu district were directly administered by the District Committee without any intervening local body. The affidavits were also required to explain which Gurdwaras were managed through locally elected, nominated or otherwise established bodies.

Explaining the purpose of seeking these details, the Court observed: “This Court is constrained to come up with this direction to the aforesaid effect soliciting affidavit from the petitioners as well as the respondent No. 1 in order to confirm as to whether the administration and management of Gurdwara Chatti Pathshahi, Talab Tillo, Jammu through the so-called administrators i.e. the respondents No. 3 & 4 is an exception itself or there are other Gurdwaras in District Jammu who are being so administered and managed through local nominated or self-nominated administrators without any accountability to the District Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee, Jammu.”

The Court separately directed the Committee's Secretary to disclose whether the cash and in-kind donations received by each Gurdwara were subjected to annual audit. If audits had been conducted, the Secretary was directed to produce the audited statements of every Gurdwara and the District Committee.

The High Court suo motu impleaded the Committee's elected Treasurer and Joint Secretary to secure their participation in the proceedings. It also called for the records of the civil suit and the appeal from the courts below.

The parties were directed to submit individual affidavits concerning the management structure of the Gurdwaras, while the Committee's Secretary was required to furnish the audit-related disclosures. The petition remains pending for further consideration.

Case Title: District Gurdwara Parbandak Committee Jammu & Anr. v. Ranjeet Singh Tohra & Ors.