The Supreme Court, on Friday, granted the Union government four weeks’ time to file its response on pleas seeking directions for the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood within a time-bound framework.
Jammu and Kashmir was stripped of its statehood and limited autonomy on August 5, 2019, after the Centre abrogated the Article 370. The abrogation was upheld by the Supreme Court in December 2023 while urging the Centre to restore the statehood at the earliest.Â
The SC did not fix a timeline for the statehood restoration after the Solicitor General assured the apex court that the Centre is committed to the restoration of statehood.Â
In Friday’s hearing, a bench led by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai took note the submissions made by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan to enforce the Union government’s earlier undertaking regarding the restoration of statehood. Â
In the previous hearing in August, the court had said the restoration of statehood was the prerogative of the Parliament and ground realities, in view of the Pahalgam attack, cannot be ignored. Â
The petitioner, Zahoor Ahmad Bhat, argued that despite the court’s direction, the Centre has not yet restored statehood. He argued that not restoring statehood has affected the rights of citizens and violated the idea of federalism.Â
The Centre has linked the restoration of statehood to delimitation and elections in Jammu and Kashmir. Delimitation was completed in 2022 and elections were held last year in September and October, bringing to power an alliance of the National Conference and Congress in the 90-member assembly. The emerged as a strong opposition by winning 29 seats.
The BJP had hoped that it would form the government in view of the delimitation that mainly benefited the Jammu region, the party’s stronghold. The party was also banking on smaller parties in Kashmir . However, due to the abrogation of Article 370, the elections were held in a polarised atmosphere, leading to the NC winning a majority of the Muslim-dominated seats in Kashmir and Jammu. The BJP failed to win any seats in Kashmir, while smaller parties also failed to make an impression, forcing the BJP to sit in the opposition.
