The Supreme Court will begin to hear the batch of petitions challenging the decision to abrogate Article 370, which had given special status to Jammu and Kashmir, from August 2.
While listing the matter for pre-hearing formalities, Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud said the five-judge bench will hear the petitions day-to-day from August 2, except on Mondays and Fridays. Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, and Surya Kant are the other members of the bench.
The decision comes nearly four years after the removal of Article 370 by the BJP on August 5, 2019. Several J&K political parties have challenged the move in the apex court. The Centre on Monday submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court defending the abrogation of Article 370.
However, the CJI said affidavit regarding the present status of Jammu and Kashmir would not have any bearing on the constitutional issues raised in the petitions 'and shall not be relied upon for the purpose'.
The apex court decision on the petitions will forever settle the controversy surrounding the legality of the BJP’s decision to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its limited autonomy under Article 370 and statehood. Under the J&K Reorganisation after the removal of Article 370, J&K was split into two union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
The demand for the restoration of statehood and assembly elections has grown louder in Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir have been under Central rule since June 2018 after the collapse of the BJP-PDP coalition. The former state completed five years of Presidential rule on June 19.
Petitioners pull out
Two petitioners - Shah Faesel and Shehla Rashid- informed the court via their lawyers that they do not want to continue as the petitioners and requested that their names be deleted from the array of parties, reported Live Law.
The pleas against the Centre's decision to abrogate the provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which split J-K into two Union Territories--Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh--were referred to a Constitution bench in 2019.
Though the hearing started in December 2019, four months after the date on which the Centre notified the repeal of Article 370, the matter was not listed till now despite being mentioned before the Chief Justice of India on several occasions.
The Centre on Monday submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court defending the abrogation of Article 370. It said that the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir witnessed an unprecedented era of peace, progress and prosperity, with street violence, orchestrated by terrorists and secessionist networks, becoming "a thing of the past."
The Centre contended that the "historic constitutional step" being challenged has brought unprecedented development, progress, security and stability to the region, which was often missing during the old Article 370 regime. It is submitted that the same has been possible due to the policy of the Union of India of ensuring peace, prosperity and progress in the region, the affidavit said.
