Are Sikhs minority in Punjab? Supreme Court to adjudicate

From an interesting article of Times of India: Are Sikhs minority in Punjab? Supreme Court to adjudicate

It may sound ridiculous at first blush, but the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine whether Sikhs were a “minority group in homeland Punjab” — saying it had far reaching importance and consequences.

A constitution bench of Chief Justice TS Thakur and justices FMI Kalifulla, AK Sikri, S A Bobde and R Banumathi initially countered the plea by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi for treating Sikhs as a minority in Punjab by asking, “For that matter, can Christians, who are the majority in the states of Nagaland and Meghalaya, be also treated as a minority community in these two northeastern states? Sikhs may be a minority in other states but can they be treated as a minority group in Punjab?”

But Dwivedi pointed out that another constitution bench judgment had erroneously fixed twin criteria — whether the group was numerically minority and whether they were dominated by other groups — for declaring a community as minority while taking the state as the geographical entity for such determination.

He said numerical strength of a community within a state should be the criteria and not whether they were dominated by other communities. “A minority community may be affluent and not dominated in a state. This does not mean they can be denied the right to protect and further their cultural and educational rights as a minority group guaranteed under the Constitution,” he said.

Dwivedi said Sikhs were those who owed allegiance to Guru Granth Sahib and were enlisted as voters with Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committe. “The sub-sects and followers of Dera Sacha Sauda, Radha Soami and similarly placed persons are not considered Sikhs even though they were born to Sikh parents,” he said.

When the bench was deliberating whom to appoint as amicus curiae for assistance in adjudication of this tricky and complex constitutional issue, senior advocate KK Venugopal said it surely presented an issue that had far reaching consequences for many states.

“In Kerala, Christians are in minority but own majority of the educational institutions. If Christian-owned educational institutions turn into minority educational institutions, then it will have a telling effect,” he said and agreed with the bench that former solicitor general T R Andhyarujina would be best suited to discharge duties as amicus curiae in this issue.

The bench issued notice to the ministry of minority affairs and sought its response within four weeks. It also requested attorney general Mukul Rohatgi and senior advocate Andhyarujina to assist the court in deciding this question.

A three-judge bench of the SC on August 8, 2005 had said in Bal Patil case, “It was not in contemplation of the framers of the Constitution to add to the list of religious minorities. The Constitution, through all its organs, is committed to protect religious, cultural and educational rights of all.

“Constitution has accepted one common citizenship for every Indian regardless of his religion, language, culture or faith. The only qualification for citizenship is a person’s birth in India. We have to develop such enlightened citizenship where each citizen of whatever religion or language is more concerned about his duties and responsibilities to protect rights of the other group than asserting his own rights.