The Supreme Court has rejected the petition regarding declaring a national holiday on the birth anniversary of the tenth Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh. On Tuesday (March 17, 2026), the court rejected the petition saying that there are already many religious holidays in India. We cannot give any instructions to the government in this regard. Guru Govind Jayanti is celebrated as Prakash Parv.
The bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta said that it is not willing to consider the petition of All India Shiromani Singh Sabha. The petitioner had also sought to issue special guidelines for declaring public or gazetted holidays in the country. After hearing the arguments of the petitioner, the Supreme Court said, ‘Rejected. Detailed orders will come later. Commenting, Justice Sandeep Mehta said, ‘India is a country of Holi holidays. Don’t add more holidays to that.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing for petitioner Akhil Bharatiya Shiromani Singh Sabha, said that at present there is no policy and it should be ensured as to how public holidays will be decided. The petition sought a direction to the Center to declare the Prakash Parv of the tenth Sikh Guru Guru Gobind Singh Ji as a gazetted/public holiday, which should be celebrated all over India.
The petition said, ‘In the absence of any guiding principle from any authority regarding declaration of gazetted holidays in India, at the behest of political groups sitting in the government, the authorities declare holidays as per their wish and choice, which is for the political purpose of satisfying a particular section of the public.
It was said in the PIL that there is no law regarding declaring public holidays in the country. However, countries like America, Britain and New Zealand have laws regarding declaring holidays. The petitioner said that public holidays in the country are declared through executive instructions and are based on the whims of various political and community groups.
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