SC hears several pleas related to Article 370
Matter to be heard consecutively by a five-judge bench including CJI Chandrachud
Updated: Aug 21st, 2023
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| Supreme Court of India, Abrogation of Article 370 (img: IANS, Vecteezy) |
A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Aug 2 commenced hearing on a batch of petitions challenging the 2019 presidential order taking away the special status accorded to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and its bifurcation into two union territories.
Other than CJI Chandrachud, the constitution bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, and Surya Kant, would hear the matter consecutively starting from today, except for mondays and fridays.
Updated on Aug 21, 4 p.m.
SC denies plea seeking declaration of validity for abrogation of Article 370
The Supreme Court junked a PIL today seeking declaration that abrogation of Article 370 and deletion of Article 35A by the president was valid and constitutional.
A bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra termed the plea as 'misconceived' and said that such a declaration cannot be issued by the apex court, particularly when the question of constitutional validity is already pending adjudication before the Supreme Court.
Top lawyers to advance oral arguments for around 60 hours
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Gopal Subramanium, Rajeev Dhavan, Dushyant Dave, Shekhar Naphade, Dinesh Dwivedi, Zafar Shah, CU Singh, Prashanto Chandra Sen, Sanjay Parikh, Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Dr Menaka Guruswamy, Nitya Ramakrishnan, PV Surendranath will advance arguments on behalf of the petitioners and other intervenors in the case.
The petitioners’ side has submitted a note to the constitution bench, through the nodal counsel appointed by the court, saying that it will take around 60 hours for oral arguments.
AG, SG to advocate the abrogation of Article 370
On the other hand, attorney general R Venkataramani and solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta primarily will defend the stand of the union government.
The clutch of petitions was recently heard on July 11 to complete the necessary pre-hearing formalities pending since Mar 2, 2020, when another constitution bench ruled against the necessity of referring the matter to a seven-judge bench.
Petitions filed by personalities from all public sections
A large number of petitions have been filed by political parties, private individuals, lawyers, activists, etc., challenging the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which downgraded and split Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Centre defends scrapping Article 370 with ‘no violence in the valley’
In an affidavit filed recently before the top court, the central government has defended the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir saying that its decision to dilute Article 370 has brought unprecedented development, progress, security, and stability in the region.
The Union Home Ministry said that the street violence, engineered and orchestrated by terrorists and secessionist networks has now become a thing of the past and and added that ‘organised stone pelting incidents connected with terrorism-separatist agenda, which were as high as 1,767 in 2018 has come down to zero in 2023 till date’.
Kashmiri Pandits advocate the Centre’s decision
In the pending matter, intervention applications have also been filed by Kashmiri Pandits supporting Centre’s move stripping special status accorded to the erstwhile state of J&K.
(Source: IANS)
-Edited for style
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