What a mess!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...t-9507188.html
Quote:
Britain's finest legal minds have been asked to make sense of some of life's thorniest problems, but few compare to that posed by the followers of Sant Baba Jeet Singh Ji Maharaj – specifically whether he is a Sikh saint, the Third Holy Saint in fact.
This week the Supreme Court will give its judgment on one of the more colourful legal predicaments to have come before the UK's highest justices. Ostensibly the fight is over the control of two Sikh gurdwaras, or temples, in Birmingham and High Wycombe. The saint's supporters argue he, as a "successor" via the Second Holy Saint to the First Holy Saint and founder of the temples, is entitled to hire and fire the trustees who run them. His opponents, however, do not recognise his authority and are contesting this. One difficulty is that the Second Holy Saint died without leaving a will or naming an heir to his leadership or the properties.
Experts point out that vital legal issues are at stake which could ensnare the Supreme Court justices in religious controversy. The case was rejected by Appeal Court judges in 2012, who said it should not proceed because it involved an "impossible task of resolving [issues about] religious doctrines and practices of adherents of the Sikh religion".