A Constitution Bench will resume hearing today the batch of petitions challenging the dilution of Article370 of the Constitution which took away the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices SK Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai and Surya Kant is hearing the matter.Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal argued during the first two days. The reports...
A Constitution Bench will resume hearing today the batch of petitions challenging the dilution of Article370 of the Constitution which took away the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices SK Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai and Surya Kant is hearing the matter.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal argued during the first two days. The reports of the previous hearings can be found here, here and here.
Live updates from today's hearing can be tracked here:
The bench has risen for the day.
CJI: So Mr Subramanian, you'll conclude by lunch tomorrow?
Subramanian: Yes my lords, that's very fair
Sr Adv Gopal Subramanian: I'll argue next. I will be covering some unfinished parts of Mr Sibal's. Some parts need to be cemented, particularly with reference to decisions of Constituent Assembly of J&K itself.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal has concluded his arguments.
Sibal: If you threw such executive acts, silenced the voices of people, what is left of democracy? All I can say it is that this is the historic moment, historic not for the present but for the future of India. And I hope this court is not silent.
Sibal: What is a Constitution? It is a set of values. A values on the basis of which people will represent themselves and their voice will be heard.
Sibal: We stand at a situation where though the constitution is a political document, its provisions cannot be manipulated or manouvered for political ends. That's not how interpret a constitution. It is a political document but you can misuse it politically.
Sibal: Where is the voices of people of J&K? Where is the voice of representative democracy? 5 years have passed. Have you had any form of representative democracy? Whole of India can be converted.
Sibal (referring to State reorganization commission, 1953) : Essentially, there are two aspects to that. The text of the constitution doesn't allow you to do that and the fundamentals of constitutional democracy do not allow.
Sibal: Otherwise this power can be exercised any time
Sibal: You can carve out a UT if you have two or more states come together. But you can't create two UTs in a state.