Petition to have it declared that a place asserted to be a Sikh Gurdwara is not such a gurdwara

When a notification has been published under the provisions of sub-section (3) of section 7 in respect of any gurdwara, any hereditary office-holder or any twenty or more worshippers of the gurdwara, each of whom is more than twenty-one years of age and was on the commencement of this Act [or, in the case of the extended territories, on the Commencement of the Amending Act, as the case may be,] a resident of a police station area in which the gurdwara is situated may forward to the [State] Government, through the [appropriate Secretary to Government], so as to reach the Secretary within ninety days from the date of the publication of the notification, a petition signed and verified by the petitioner, or petitioners, as the case may be, claiming that the gurdwara is not a Sikh Gurdwara, and may in such petition make a further claim that any hereditary office-holder or any person who would have succeeded to such office-holder under the system of management prevailing before the first day of January, 1920, [or, in the case of the extended territories, before the 1st day of November, 1956, as the case may be,] may be restored to office on the grounds that such gurdwara is not a Sikh Gurdwara and that such office-holder ceased to be an office-holder after that day; Provided that the [State] Government may in respect of any such Gurdwara declare by notification that a petition or twenty or more worshippers of such gurdwara shall be deemed to be duly forwarded whether the petitioners were or were not on the commencement of this Act [or, in the case of the extended territories, on the commencement of the Amending Act, as the case may be,] residents in the police station area in which such gurdwara is situated, and shall thereafter deal with any petition that may be otherwise duly forwarded in respect of any such gurdwara as if the petition had been duly forwarded by petitioners who were such residents.