Sikhs cannot be considered a minority in Punjab and cannot claim 50 per cent reservation in seats for admission to educational institutions run by the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled on Monday.

The court order came from a division bench comprising Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and Ajay Lamba on a petition filed by a student Sahil Mittal claiming that the Sikhs were not a minority in Punjab and could not reserve 50 per cent of seats for the community in SGPC-run educational institutions.

The high court ruling is likely to lead to a debate in the state with the SGPC declaring that it will approach the Supreme Court against the high court order.