He passed his matriculation examination from the Government High School, Montgomery in 1913 and graduated from the Khalsa College, Amritsar, in 1917.

Sardar Hukam Singh was a member of this Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) and was one of those who were arrested on 7 January 1924 and sentenced to two years imprisonment.

He also participated in the anti-Simon Commission demonstrations in 1928 and was injured and arrested during a police baton charge on a procession in the streets of Montgomery.

He was at the top of the rioters' hit list, when, during the night of 19–20 August 1947, a British officer of the Punjab Boundary Force evacuated him, penniless and disguised in a khaki uniform, to the Firozpur army base.

As it happened, the prime minister made excuses for Sardar Hukam Singh, saying that as a refugee he had been unable to purchase proper attire.

Hukam Singh was elected to the Constituent Assembly of India on 30 April 1948 as a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal.

In the 1st Lok Sabha, Hukam Singh was elected from Kapurthala Bhatinda constituency in PEPSU state as an Akali Party candidate.

As speaker of the Lok Sabha, Sardar Hukam Singh firmly upheld the supremacy of the legislature over the executive branch of government.

He also maintained decorum during the stormy debates when, for the first time in the history of the Lok Sabha, no confidence motions against the Council of Ministers were admitted and discussed in the House.

The longstanding deadlock over this issue was overcome when the committee gave its verdict in favour of a Punjabi State reorganised on a linguistic basis.

[1] As an eloquent lover of Sikhism, Sardar Hukam Singh launched the Spokesman English weekly in Delhi in 1951, and served as its editor for many years.