Supreme Court to hear plea on J&K statehood on August 8
The hearing, close on the heels of the 6th anniversary of Article 370 abrogation, addresses a plea for restoration of statehood, as previously assured by SC
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a plea regarding the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir on Friday (August 8). The matter was mentioned before Chief Justice BR Gavai by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who said that the matter was listed for hearing on August 8 and urged the CJI that it should not be deleted from the list of that day. The CJI accepted the request.
The development incidentally came on August 5, the sixth anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 under which Jammu and Kashmir was provided with special status. According to a report in Live Law, the application has been filed as a Miscellaneous Application in the disposed of matter "In Re : Article 370 of the Constitution", wherein the Supreme Court upheld the Centre’s decision of abrogating the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
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Violation of federalism
However, due to the assurance given by the Solicitor General that the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir would be restored, the Supreme Court in its order did not take up the issue of the constitutional validity of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019 under which Jammu and Kashmir was converted to a Union Territory.
Without fixing any timeline, the court only directed, "Restoration of statehood shall take place at the earliest and as soon as possible.”
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‘No step by Centre on restoring statehood’
The applicants, college teacher Zahoor Ahmed Bhat and activist Khurshaid Ahmad Malik, stated that despite the Solicitor General’s assurance, the Centre has not taken any steps to restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir in the last 11 months following the judgment in the Article 370 case.
They argued that since the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir has not been restored yet, it was in violation of the basic feature of federalism.
"The non-restoration of the status of Statehood of Jammu and Kashmir in a time-bound manner violates the idea of federalism, which forms a part of the basic structure of the Constitution of India," stated the petitioners as quoted by Live Law.
Also Read: Article 370 abrogation brought prosperity to J-K: Congress leader Salman Khurshid
‘No impediment in statehood restoration’
They argued that since the Assembly elections were held peacefully in Jammu and Kashmir, there is no impediment in restoring the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir.
"Therefore, there is no impediment of security concerns, violence or any other disturbances which would hinder or prevent the grant/restoration of the status of Statehood to Jammu and Kashmir as had been assured by the Union of India in the present proceedings," the application stated.