With Assembly elections due in Punjab next year, the NDA Government at the Centre has a tough call to make on whether Sikh educational institutions can continue to enjoy “minority” tag in Punjab where numerically Sikhs are a majority.
The question came before the Supreme Court in an appeal filed by the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) challenging a decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which stripped Sikh educational institutions of their minority status. The HC set aside the State Government’s notification of April 13, 2001 that permitted Sikh institutions to enjoy minority benefits and reserve 50 per cent seats for members from the community.
On Monday, when the Constitution Bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur, Justices FM Ibrahim Kalifulla, AK Sikri, SA Bobde and R Banumathi took up the appeals for hearing, besides the SGPC counsel there was no advocate to argue on the other side. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, who appeared for SGPC, informed the Bench that the contesting parties were students who may not be interested anymore in the outcome of the case, having got admission elsewhere.
“This is a serious issue on which we need assistance of the Centre,” the Bench said, issuing a notice to the Ministry of Minority Affairs and requesting Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi to assist in the matter. The SC also appointed senior advocate TR Andhyarujina as amicus curiae.
The move by the apex court could have a bearing on other communities as well. The SC discussed similar situations that may arise for Christians in Mizoram, Nagaland and Muslims in Jammu & Kashmir where the communities are numerically in majority, though being a minority in the country.
While considering this issue, the SGPC counsel pointed to a three-judge Bench ruling of 2005 in Bal Patil vs Union of India case where the issue of declaring minorities was discussed. Dwivedi sought reconsideration of this ruling which held that a numerical head count cannot be the sole criterion for declaring a minority. It said: “If it is found that a majority of the members of the community belong to the affluent class of industrialists, businessmen, professionals and propertied class, it may not be necessary to notify them under the Act as such and extend any special treatment or protection to them as minority.”
Senior advocate KK Venugopal, who settled the petition filed by SGPC, and was present in the court, pointed out that for the purpose of recognizing minority educational institutions, the State and not the country should be the yardstick as held by an 11-judge SC Bench decision in TMA Pai case. He said that in India, minorities are classified based on religion and language. He presented the example of Kerala where Christians, though a minority in terms of numeric strength, owned maximum educational institutions.
The HC order came to be passed as no evidence was forthcoming to show that Sikhs faced apprehension of being dominated or discriminated against by other communities in Punjab. Even the SC echoed this view while posting the case after four weeks.