The Hindu : Front Page : Supreme Court won’t stay High Court verdict on Sikhs

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Supreme Court won’t stay High Court verdict on Sikhs

J. Venkatesan

According to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Sikhs not minorities in Punjab

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday declined to stay a judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court which held that Sikhs are not “minorities” in Punjab and that they cannot claim minority rights.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had on December 17, 2007, struck down a notification issued by the State government on April 13, 2001, permitting the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to give 50 per cent reservation to Sikh students in colleges run by it on the ground that Sikhs were a minority community.

A Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice K. G. Balakrishnan, Justice C. K. Thakker and Justice R. V. Raveendran while deciding to examine important questions of law involved refused to stay the impugned judgment. The Bench issued notice to the respondents, Sahil Mittal and others, on special leave petitions filed by the Punjab government and the SGPC.

Appearing for the SGPC, senior counsel Harish Salve contended that the High Court erred in law by striking down the minority status of the Sikhs. He submitted that going by the definition of Sikh as explained in the Sikh Gurdwaras (SG) Act, 1925, only about 53 lakh, roughly one-third of the electoral college of the SGPC, were Sikhs as against the 1.66 crore total voters in the State.

“There are several sects like Nirankaris, followers of Dera Sacha Sauda and Radha Saomi who believe in ‘living gurus’ who could not be considered Sikhs according to the SG Act. If this is accepted then Sikhs are clearly a minority,” said Mr. Salve.

Justice Raveendran told counsel: “If we go by this submission then Hindus will also become a minority as they are also followers of various sects.” Mr. Salve argued that it was wrong to conclude that Sikhs were politically dominant in the State. He said that though Parsis and Christians were minorities, they were not oppressed in any part of the country.

In the SLPs, Punjab and the SGPC contended that conclusive and binding findings on these issues, having far-reaching social and religious ramifications, had been rendered by the High Court without any comprehensive enquiry into various factual aspects.

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