BREAKING| Supreme Court To Hear Article 370 Petitions From August 2; Centre Says Its Affidavit On J&K Situation Won't Be Relied To Argue Constitutional Issue

The Supreme Court on Tuesday fixed August 2, 2023 as the starting date for the hearing of a batch of petitions challenging the dilution of Article 370 of the Constitution of India which stripped the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir of its special status. The petitions also challenge the J&K Re-organization Act 2019 which bifurcated J&K into Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.Today, the matter was listed for directions to complete the pre-hearing formalities. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, the presiding judge, said that the matters will be heard day-to-day from August 2, except on Mondays and Fridays. Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, and Surya Kant are the other members of the bench.During the hearing, Justice Kaul asked if there was any need to file any additional affidavits in the matter, as the issue purely relates to the constitutionality of the decisions. Yesterday, the Union Government had filed an affidavit regarding the present status of Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of its special status. Justice Kaul said that now the other side will file a rejoinder affidavit and the process will go on.Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Union Government, said that the affidavit merely reflects the present situation of the region and no rejoinder to that may be necessary.CJI Chandrachud said that the Union's latest affidavit will not have any bearing on the merits of the matter relating to the Constitutionality."The affidavit of the centre has no bearing on the constitutional question", CJI said. Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for some of the petitioners, said that the Union's affidavit should be disregarded. Solicitor General said that the latest affidavit will not be relied on to argue the Constitutional questions. The bench recorded this statement in the order."Solicitor General has informed that though the Union has filed an additional affidavit giving its perspective on the post-notification developments, the contents of the affidavit have no bearing on constitutional issues and thus are not to be relied on for that purpose", the bench noted in the order.The bench directed that all written submissions and compilations should be filed by July 27, 2023. Advocates S Prasanna and Kanu Agarwal were nominated as the nodal counsel to prepare the compilations from the sides of petitioners and the respondents respectively.Senior Advocate Raju Ramachandran informed the bench that Mr. Shah Faesel and Ms. Shehla Rashid do not want to continue as the petitioners and requested that their names be deleted from the array of parties. Ms. Shehla was represented by Advocate Charu Mathur. The bench passed an order to that affect and said that the causetitle will be amended. Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan suggested that the causetitle of the matter be changed as "In Re : Article 370 petitions". The bench agreed and passed an order to that effect. Advocate ML Sharma, objected to this move, saying that he filed the first petition and notice was issued first on his petition. However, the bench rejected his objection.These petitions had been posted today for the first time after March 2, 2020, when another constitution bench ruled that it would not be necessary to refer the matter to a seven-judge bench.BackgroundThe hearing had started in December 2019, within four months from the date on which the Centre notified the repeal of Article 370 and the reorganisation of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Despite the judgement holding that the issues involved in the pleas could be decided by a five-judge combination, the matter was not listed – till now. However, it has been mentioned before the Chief Justice of India on several occasions. In April 2022, the then-chief justice NV Ramana had refused to provide a definitive answer when it was mentioned. In September of the same year, Chief Justice UU Lalit agreed to list the petitions, but his tenure was short-lived. His successor and the incumbent Chief Justice Chandrachud expressed his inclination to list the matter on two separate occasions.Justices NV Ramana and Subhash Reddy – who were on the last constitution bench that dealt with this matter – have already retired. Therefore, while Justices Kaul, Gavai, and Kant were members of the previous five-judge bench, Chief Justice Chandrachud and Justice Sanjiv Khanna have joined to fill the vacancies.Just yesterday, the Central government filed a fresh affidavit in the matter and stated that its decision to dilute Article 370 in 2019 revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir has brought an ‘unprecedented era development, progress, security and stability to the region’. The Centre defended its move by stating that in the past 3 years, schools, colleges, universities, hospitals and other public institutions have been functioning without any strikes or disturbances. "The earlier practice of daily hartals, strikes, stone pelting and bandhs are a thing of the ...

BREAKING| Supreme Court To Hear Article 370 Petitions From August 2; Centre Says Its Affidavit On J&K Situation Won't Be Relied To Argue Constitutional Issue

Padmakshi Sharma

Tags