The Supreme Court of India has dismissed a petition seeking declaration of a nationwide public holiday on the occasion of Sri Guru Gobind Singh’s Prakash Purab. The plea was filed by the All India Shiromani Singh Sabha.
The petition had also requested the court to issue directions to the Central and State governments to frame specific guidelines for declaring public or gazetted holidays across the country.
The matter was heard by a bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta. During the hearing, Justice Sandeep Mehta remarked, “My uncle used to say that India is a holy land of holidays. Please do not add more holidays to the list.”
Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for the petitioner, argued that there is no clear policy governing the declaration of public holidays and urged the court to direct the government to formulate one. He contended that the Centre should respond and establish a structured framework for deciding such matters.
The petition specifically sought recognition of Guru Gobind Singh’s Prakash Purab as a national holiday and called for uniform policy guidelines to determine public holidays nationwide.
However, the bench rejected the plea, observing that India already observes numerous religious festivals and that declaring every festival as a national holiday would not be practical.
The Supreme Court stated that a detailed order explaining the decision will be issued later.
