India, March 25 -- The Supreme Court has refused to mandate a nationwide holiday for Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti, underscoring that India, as a developing nation, must prioritise the dignity of labour and continuity of work, while adding that such decisions lie in the realm of executive policy.

A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, in a judgment released on Tuesday, held that the legacy of the tenth Sikh Guru is best honoured through dedicated service to society rather than by mandating symbolic gestures such as a nationwide public holiday, dismissing a public interest litigation seeking such a declaration. The court added that the expansion of gazetted holidays is a matter of executive policy and cautioned that indiscriminate...