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Punjab Govt. may move Supreme Court

Chandigarh: The Punjab Government on Tuesday said it will consider moving the Supreme Court against a High Court ruling that Sikhs were not a minority community in seeking admission to Sikh institutions run by SGPC in the State.

“We are considering going for appeal (against the Punjab and Haryana High court ruling) in the Supreme Court,” Punjab’s Advocate General H. S. Mattewal said here.

He said the case involved an important legal issue and they were going into all aspects of it.

“We are still going through the whole judgment and will take a decision soon (on moving Apex Court),” he said.

“It is a case which needs to be tested in the Supreme Court, have a final verdict on the issue because the question of majority and minority are a matter of fact”, he said.

Mr. Mattewal also said the SGPC, apex religious body of the Sikhs, had become an inter-state body after the Punjab Re-organisation Act and was also serving the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.

A Division Bench of the High Court had on Monday declared as ultra vires of the Constitution the notification issued by Punjab Government declaring SGPC-run Sikh institutions as minority institutions. -- PTI

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