Chandigarh, July 16 (PTI): Punjab and Haryana High Court has barred non-Sikh air force personnel from sporting beards, saying it is not a “compulsive requirement” for a Muslim.

The court gave the ruling on Monday on petitions by two Muslim personnel of the Indian Air Force seeking permission to grow beards while in uniform.

A single-judge bench of Justice Pramod Kohli held that “growing beards at the most can be stated to be a personal choice and the same is not a compulsive requirement of a person professing Islam. Even if it is presumed to be so, it can be regulated, restricted, if public order, morality and health so requires”.

The court also vacated a stay it had granted to aircraft loading man Aftab Ahmed Ansari and Corporal Mohammed Zubair allowing them to grow beards.

The Supreme Court recently asked the high court to decide the case in three months after the air force filed a special leave petition .

The petitioners’ counsel, Navkiran Singh, said they would approach a division bench. He said his clients’ religion did not allow them to shave off the beards.

Four years after joining the air force, Ansari had sought permission to grow a beard. Denied, he went on 40 days’ leave and came back sporting a beard, according to the IAF case file.