SC upholds HC order, says Sikhs not minority in Punjab

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to stay a judgment of Punjab and Haryana High Court which said that Sikhs are not a minority in Punjab.

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to stay a judgment of Punjab and Haryana High Court which said that Sikhs are not a minority in Punjab.

A Bench presided by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, while refusing to stay the impugned order, however, issued notice to Sahil Mittal, a student who was the petitioner before the High Court. Mittal, a resident of Sangrur in Punjab, who had failed to secure admission in an educational institution, was aggrieved by the 50 per cent reservation provided to Sikhs in educational institutions in the state run by Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandak Committee.

The High Court, while examining a state Government’s notification of April 2001 that had provided for the reservation, struck it down, saying the “concept of Sikh as a minority for the purposes of Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution is not controlled by the definition of Sikh given under the Sikh Gurudwara Act, 1925.”

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The judgment of the high court was based on the ruling of an eleven-member Constitutional Bench which directed that minority status shall be decided on the basis of state population and not on national basis.

The High Court had relied upon the 2001 census figures, which showed Sikh population in Punjab at 59.2 per cent while non-Sikhs including Hindus were 37 per cent.

The SGPC then approached the apex court contending that the High Court’s decision was bad in law and is meant to be set aside. Besides, the Punjab Government had also challenged the said decision before the court.

But the Bench, also comprising Justices R V Raveendran and C K Thakker wondered: “It is very strange that Sikhs are a minority in Punjab. If we go by this submission, then Hindus will also become a minority as they are also followers of various sects.”