Supreme Court to hear plea for restoration of Jammu and Kashmir statehood on August 8

The Supreme Court is set to hear on August 8 a plea seeking the restoration of statehood for Jammu and Kashmir.

Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan today mentioned the matter before a Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai.

"The date shows as August 8. Let it not be deleted," Sankaranarayanan submitted.

The Court agreed to not delete the case from the day's causelist.

The plea moved by college teacher Zahoor Ahmed Bhat and activist Khurshid Ahmad Malik argues that the failure to restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir was gravely affecting the rights of the citizens there.

The application was filed during the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir last year. It argued that the formation of the Legislative Assembly before the restoration of statehood for Jammu and Kashmir would violate the idea of federalism, which forms part of the basic structure of the Constitution of India.

A National Conference government with the support of Congress and certain independent members of the Legislative Assembly is currently in power in the Union Territory.

The bifurcation of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) into two Union Territories (J&K and Ladakh) followed the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, which had earlier conferred a special status to J&K.

In May 2024, the top court dismissed review petitions challenging its December 2023 decision to uphold the abrogation of Article 370.

The Constitution Bench in 2023 refused to decide on the validity of a 2019 law that paved the way for the bifurcation of Jammu & Kashmir into two Union Territories (UT) following the abrogation of Article 370.

The Court had also recorded Solicitor General (SG) of India Tushar Mehta's statement that J&K's status as a UT is temporary and that statehood will be restored to the region.