New Delhi: The Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee or SGPC has contended that different sects who worship and follow Sikh gurus cannot be called part of Sikh community and the recent Punjab and Haryana High Court order denying minority status to the Sikhs was a serious error.
Filing a petition before the Supreme Court against the HC order striking down a Punjab Government notification, granting minority status to SGPC-run educational institutions in the state, the SGPC said it is a serious error to treating all followers of Sikh gurus as Sikhs.
The SC issued notices to the Centre, Punjab state, Sahil Mittal and others on the basis of two separate petitions filed by SGPC and state of Punjab.
A bench consisting of Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, Justices CK Thakker and RV Raveendran, however, refused to stay the operation of the High Court judgement dated December 17, 2007, holding that there is nothing to show that Sikhs were not a dominant group in the state.
Earlier a group of students had moved a petition in the High Court after they had been denied admission in medical science courses in view of 50 per cent reservation granted to Sikhs in the SGPC-run medical colleges, which enjoy the status of minority institutions.
The students had challenged the validity of Punjab Government notification dated April 25, 2006, under Section 2(f) of Punjab Private Health Sciences Educational Institutions (regulation of admission, fixation of fees and making of reservation) Act 2006, which granted minority status to SGPC-run educational institutions.
According to the petitioners, Sikhs constituted 65 per cent population in Punjab and cannot be granted minority status.
The High Court later ruled that the definition of minority under Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution of India couldn’t be overruled or changed through a state government act.
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