SGPC Asks Supreme Court to Reinstate Minority Quota For Sikhs in its Educational Institutes

khalsa_college2NEW DELHI, India—A hearing regarding a reservation for Sikh students within SGPC managed institutes under minority quota was held in the Supreme Court on January 15.

Appearing before a five member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice T.S Thakur, the SGPC’s counsel Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi pleaded to the Court to reinstate minority quota status for Sikh students.

The Apex Court, however, objected to the SGPC’s demand as to why the Sikh students should be given minority status as the population of Sikhs in Punjab was in a higher proportion. The Court remarked that on the basis of numerical strength, Sikh students don’t reserve minority quota in Punjab.

Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi tried to console the Court with his contention that SGPC’s boundaries are beyond the territory of Punjab and it is also governing religious shrines and educational institutes in other states like Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh etc. However, the Court stated that the SGPC was seeking to defeat the judicial order on this pretext. “The SGPC was formed to manage religious places, not for other roles. Your committee may have a wider role, but your status (minority or majority) will be determined by your population in the state from where you are operating,” the Bench said.

It may be recalled here that in 2001 and 2006, the Punjab government had issued a notification ordering the SGPC to reserve 50% seats for Sikh students under the ‘minority quota’. However, the orders of the Punjab government were later quashed by Punjab & Haryana High Court on December 17, 2007 asserting that the population of Sikhs in Punjab was in major proportion so the Sikh students don’t deserve to be considered under minority quota in educational institutions being run in Punjab. The SGPC had then moved to the Apex Court of India seeking reinstatement of minority quota for Sikh students.

 

9 COMMENTS

  1. The community then through its other institute like 5 payaras ,Akali Dal, , NRI ,think tanks etc should find ways and mean to see how the interest of community can be protected..

    This desecration ,Sarbatt khalsa are traps to provoke us to revert Punjab back to ,1980-90 period. It will be pulverised by Nations and Empires security forces.

    • The worldwide Panth (which includes NRI Sikhs who have been rounded up and arrested for sedition!) has already spoken through the Sarbat Khalsa and appointed its Jathedars and Panj Pyare. The Akali-Badal and SGPC have no future role to play in Sikhism as they are gangrene and one does not keep a rotten leg if one wants to save the rest of the body.

    • SGPC has been thoroughly infiltrated by RSS and Hinduvta elements and its members have been corrupted to the point where they do not recognise the sanctity of the Panj Pyare and wishes to spend its millions on lining the pockets of its appointees rather than on spreading the message of Sikhism or even installing CCTV into every Gurdwara in Punjab to ensure that no desecration of Sri Guru Granth Sahib can take place. The SGPC is an administrative body and just like its equally tainted Akali Ba-Dal partner it has zero religious spiritual authority so will not be missed when it is removed from the body of the Panth as you might remove a malign tumour from the body before it infects vital organs and kills its host.

  2. SGPC needs to set up Medical colleges/Engineering Colleges/ Educational institutes in all the District’s , Cities and Towns of Punjab.

    Have in plenty so that we don’t fight over few seats.

    Let Punjab also be Known for it

    Knowledge Industry

  3. Sikhs need to open up educational institutes ,hospitals and other institutes with all its Gurudwaras.

    They need to go out side Punjab and even out side India to abide by the laws of land they live in.

    • In the UK there was a law of the land that Sikhs like every other UK citizen had to remove their turbans and wear motorcycle helmets. One Sikh repeatedly defied this law and was repeatedly arrested claiming that this law was discriminatory towards his religious belief as it dishonoured his dastaar. The law in the UK was subsequently changed to allow an exception to Sikhs not just to dispense with the legal requirement of a helmet when they are wearing a dastaar but also accepted that Sikhs in the UK were exempted from knife laws which would have otherwise stopped them wearing a Kirpan as per the 5Ks. This is a clear example that no matter where Sikhs migrate to in the world they have a duty to maintain their religious identity no matter the ‘law’ of whichever land they are in. You should not get so hung up on the letter of the law but rather its spirit as any law which does not deliver justice is a law not worth the paper it is written on. This principle also applies of course to the defence of religious and civil liberties of others as well as Sikhs.

  4. You are always so interested in trying to push the Sikhs out of their homeland – why is that RSS Harinder? Do you think our psyche will be neutered or more easily controlled if you can spread us out thinly both in India and out in the world and indeed your oft muttered refrain for us to ’emigrate to the stars and other parallel worlds’? Trust me Sikhism’s message and appeal is universal so you will only make more Sikhs and the Sarkar has enough difficulty abusing their rights when they are in the Punjab / Haryana and Delhi conurbations. I can well imagine the RSS with their ghar wapsi programme being outraged that the dalits they despise so much in the rest of India suddenly start converting en masse to Sikhism. So yes we should certainly make Sikh education institutes outside of Punjab (get rid of those RSS school textbooks foir a start) but only hand in hand with expanding such places within Punjab.

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