The Supreme Court will hear the petition seeking directions to the Central government to restore the statehood of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on August 8.
The matter was mentioned by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan before Chief Justice of India BR Gavai.
The Counsel requested that the matter, listed for hearing on August 8, should not be deleted from the list of that day. CJI accepted his request.
The petition has been filed as a Miscellaneous Application by college teacher Zahoor Ahmed Bhat and activist Khurshaid Ahmad Malik in the disposed of matter ‘In Re : Article 370 of the Constitution’.
On December 11, 2023, the Apex Court upheld the President’s order (CO 273) of 2019 abrogating the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution.
The five-judge Constitution Bench of then Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice BR Gavai and Justice Surya Kant held that the concurrence of the state government was not required to apply the Constitution to the state, noting that the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir had no internal sovereignty.
Responding to the assurance given by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that the Central government would restore the statehood of J&K as soon as possible, the Apex Court refused to validate the reorganisation of J&K into a Union Territory. The Bench, however, had upheld the carving out of Ladakh as UT.
The petitioners contended that despite the assurance given by the Solicitor General that J&K’s statehood would be restored, the Union was yet to take any steps, with 11 months already passed after the verdict.
They submitted that non-restoration of the status of Statehood of Jammu and Kashmir in a time-bound manner violated the idea of federalism, which formed a part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
The petitioners further contended that the Assembly elections were held peacefully and it showed that there was no impediment in restoring statehood.