The Supreme Court will hear a plea on August 8 seeking the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan mentioned the matter before Chief Justice of India BR Gavai on Monday and asked that the case remain listed for August 8, which the Chief Justice agreed to.
The hearing comes just two days after the sixth anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, which had revoked Jammu and Kashmir’s special status.
The plea has been filed as a Miscellaneous Application in the case titled “In Re: Article 370 of the Constitution.” In its 2023 ruling, the Supreme Court had upheld the abrogation of Article 370 but had not ruled on the constitutional validity of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019 — the law that turned the state into a Union Territory.
At the time, the Solicitor General had assured the Court that statehood would be restored soon. The Court noted in its judgment: “Restoration of statehood shall take place at the earliest and as soon as possible,” but did not specify a timeline.
Now, two petitioners — Zahoor Ahmed Bhat, a college teacher, and activist Khurshaid Ahmad Malik — have approached the Court saying the Union government has failed to act on that assurance even after eleven months.
“The non-restoration of the status of statehood of Jammu and Kashmir in a time-bound manner violates the idea of federalism, which is part of the basic structure of the Constitution,” their application states.
They also argued that since Assembly elections were held peacefully, there are no longer any security issues or violence that could prevent the restoration of statehood. “There is no impediment now for the Centre to fulfill its promise,” the plea said.
