The Sikh Rehat Maryada in its present form emerged from a deliberate, Panth‑wide effort under the aegis of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). In the decades following the early reform movements, the SGPC recognized the need to bring unity and clarity to Sikh practice, which had been shaped by multiple, sometimes divergent, rehat‑namas and local traditions. To address this, the SGPC appointed a committee of Sikh scholars, theologians, historians, and religious leaders, drawing on a broad spectrum of community representation. This body was tasked with studying earlier codes of conduct and aligning them with the teachings of the Guru Granth Sahib and accepted Sikh tradition.

The committee’s work unfolded over several years, with multiple drafts prepared, debated, and refined. Historical rehat‑namas from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were examined carefully, not as rigid templates, but as witnesses to how Sikhs had sought to live Gurmat in different eras. Through this process, practices that varied across regions and groups were compared and, where possible, standardized so that a common discipline could bind the community together. Input from various Sikh institutions and communities helped ensure that the emerging code was not the product of a single school or sect, but reflected a wider Panthic consensus.

Eventually, the SGPC finalized a text that could serve as an authoritative guide for personal conduct, congregational life, and institutional practice. This finalized Sikh Rehat Maryada was then officially approved and published, giving the community a shared reference point for living in accordance with Sikh principles. While it drew deeply from historical sources and long‑standing traditions, its authority rests especially on the collective deliberation and agreement that shaped it. In this way, the Rehat Maryada stands as both a distillation of inherited wisdom and a conscious, communal act of self‑definition by the Sikh Panth.