SC stays HC orders on the minority status of Sikhs in Punjab

New Delhi, May 15 (UNI) The Supreme Court today stayed till further orders the operation of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Judgement, which ruled that Sikhs in Punjab were not a minority community.

A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan stayed the operation of impugned judgement on the petition filed by the state of Punjab and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee(SGPC), challenging High Court ruling that declared the Sikhs as a majority community in Punjab.

According to the High Court, the Sikhs constituted 52 per cent of the total population of the state and therefore the Sikh community cannot be given the minority status in Punjab.

The petitioners however assailed the High Court judgement on the grounds that there are large number of sects and all of them are not Sikhs and everyone wearing turban cannot be called a Sikh.

The High Court has failed to appreciate this fact and therefore the judgement of the High Court is liable to be set aside.

UNI SC RSA AT SSC1336