The Supreme Court will deliver on December 11 its verdict on a batch of pleas challenging abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.
A Constitution Bench, headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud and comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, B.R. Gavai, and Surya Kant will decide the constitutionality of 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.
On September 5, the 5-judge bench, which included the five senior most judges of the Supreme Court, had reserved its verdict after hearing oral arguments from both sides.
During the hearing, the Central government had told the Supreme Court that it cannot give any exact timeframe and it would take “some time” for restoration of statehood in Jammu and Kashmir while reiterating that its Union Territory status is “temporary”.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had said that the judgment of the Constitution Bench, going either way, will be “historic” and would end the “psychological duality” which existed in the minds of the residents of the Kashmir Valley.
He had said that this “psychological duality” resulted because of confusion arising out of the nature of Article 370 as to whether the special provision was temporary or permanent.
The petitioners had contended that Article 370 of the Constitution has assumed a permanent nature after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly of J&K.
In March 2020, a five-judge Constitution Bench declined to accept the contentions of the petitioners to refer the issue to a larger bench of seven judges. The five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by then CJI N.V. Ramana, reasoned that the earlier judgments rendered by the top court in the Prem Nath Kaul case and the Sampat Prakash case, dealing with the interpretation of Article 370, were not in conflict with each other.
