The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment, which said that Sikhs are not a minority community in Punjab.
A bench headed by Justice K G Balakrishnan also issued a notice to Sahil Mittal, who had filed the writ in the high court.
Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee had challenged the high court verdict in the apex court.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had on December 17, 2007, struck down a notification issued by Punjab government on April 13, 2001, permitting the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee to give 50 per cent reservation to Sikh students in colleges run by it on the ground that Sikhs are a minority.
The high court, in its judgment, had ruled that according to the census of 2001, Sikh population in Punjab was 59.2 per cent and Hindus were 37 per cent. Hence Sikhs were not a minority in the state.
The judgment of the High Court was based on an eleven member constitutional bench ruling that minority status can be decided on the basis of state population and not on national basis.