Punjab and Haryana High Court scraps property deals of Deras as “null and void” in Punjab

NEW DELHI: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has scrapped all property transactions executed by chiefs of deras as “null and void” in Punjab, while ruling that they have no authority to “alienate” the assets of the religious institutions.

In a first, the court has also said state authorities would from now on oversee the selection of dera chiefs. The court order would affect transactions worth hundreds of crores across Punjab. In its landmark ruling, a division bench headed by Justice Surya Kant held that the authority to “alienate” with Dera properties vests “exclusively” with the religious institutions and not their chiefs.

The judgement, which pertained to Dera properties in Punjab, is likely to have similar consequences in Haryana, where several public deras thrive, the most prominent being Dera Sacha Sauda, headed by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

The bench held that a religious institution is fully and exclusively empowered to select and appoint its religious head. But, it said such selection would take place in the presence of state authorities: a deputy commissioner of the concerned district will be present at the time of the selection and the entire process will be video graphed. Until now, states had no such responsibilities in the selection of dera chiefs. The court, however, has clarified that the governments are “not empowered to select” dera chiefs – they shall only oversee and notify the process.

The court has also constituted special tribunals to expeditiously decide issues pertaining ownership claims by several “masqueraders” and dera chiefs in Punjab.