SC to take up petitions challenging abrogation of Article 370

A batch of petitions has challenged Centre's decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which split Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

New Delhi: A constitution bench of the Supreme Court is likely to take up on July 11 a batch of petitions challenging abrogation of Article 370. The bench will be headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and comprise of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, and Surya Kant. The bench on that day would issue procedural directions to ready the case for hearing.

A batch of petitions has challenged Centre's decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which split Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories - Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The Centre, by abrogating the provisions of Article 370, had revoked the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and subsequently, it was bifurcated into two union territories -- Union Territory of Ladakh and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

A five-judge constitution bench of the apex court, in March 2020, held that there was no need to refer the batch of petitions challenging Article 370 abrogation to a seven-judge constitution bench. The Modi-led central government had scrapped Article 370 on 5 August 2019 which provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Mehbooba welcomes SC listing petitions challenging Article 370 abrogation

PDP chief and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court's decision to list for hearing petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370. "Welcome Hon'ble SC's decision to finally hear petitions pending since 2019 challenging the illegal abrogation of Article 370. I hope justice is upheld and delivered for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

"The SC ruling on Article 370 maintained that the provision can be abrogated only on the recommendation of the Jammu and Kashmir Constituent Assembly," Mehbooba said in a tweet. Nearly four years after the government abrogated Article 370 that bestowed special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud will take up for hearing on July 11 a batch of pleas challenging the decision. According to a notice issued on the apex court website on Monday, the five-judge bench will take up the pleas for passing directions. On August 5, 2019, the Centre decided to strip the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir of special status and bifurcate it into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.