Supreme Court Today (Aug 5) said it will hear a plea on August 8 seeking timely restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood. The petition raises urgent federal concerns post Article 370 abrogation.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India will hear a fresh application on August 8, 2025, asking the Central Government to restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir within a fixed time frame.
This plea has been submitted as part of the writ petition titled “In Re: Article 370 of the Constitution”, which was earlier decided by the Supreme Court in December 2023, when the Court had upheld the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution.
The new application was mentioned before the bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who requested that the matter not be removed from the case list. The CJI accepted this request, and the hearing has now been scheduled for August 8.
Earlier, while upholding the removal of Article 370, the Court had clearly ordered,
“Restoration of statehood shall take place at the earliest and as soon as possible.”
This earlier observation was made on the basis of a statement by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who had told the Court that the Centre intends to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood (except for the carved-out Union Territory of Ladakh).
Because of this assurance, the Supreme Court had then decided it was not necessary to rule on whether dividing the former state into two Union Territories was valid under Article 3 of the Constitution.
Now, the new application has pointed out that despite the Court’s direction, 10 months have passed since the December 11, 2023 judgment, but Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood has not been restored.
This delay, the application argues, is seriously affecting the rights of citizens in the region and violates the principle of federalism.
The plea clearly states:
“Even after passing of 10 months of the order dated 11.12.2023, till date the status of statehood of Jammu and Kashmir has not yet been restored which is gravely affecting the rights of the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir and also violating the idea of federalism”.
It also draws the Court’s attention to the recent Legislative Assembly elections held in Jammu and Kashmir after a gap of ten years, conducted in three phases to elect 90 members.
The plea warns that announcing the results on October 8, 2024, and forming a government before restoring full statehood would undermine democracy in the region.
The application explains:
“The results of the said elections are to be pronounced on 08.10.2024. It is submitted that the formation of the Legislative Assembly before the restoration of Statehood would cause serious reduction of democratically elected government in Jammu and Kashmir causing grave violation of the idea of federalism which forms part of the basic structure of the Constitution of India….”
The plea was filed by Zahoor Ahmad Bhat, one of the original petitioners in the Article 370 case. It asserts that failure to restore Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood promptly goes against the basic structure of the Constitution, especially the federal principle.
It further adds:
“Jammu and Kashmir being an individual state having gone through many struggles and hardships require a strong federal structure to help in developing the area and also celebrating its unique culture”.
The 2023 Supreme Court judgment had marked a turning point in the constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir. The top court had ruled that Article 370 was a temporary provision meant for transitional purposes due to war-like conditions when it was introduced.
The 476-page verdict by the five-judge Constitution Bench also upheld the validity of carving out Ladakh as a separate Union Territory under Article 3(a) and Explanation I, which allows such reorganisation.
In this regard, the Constitution Bench noted:
“This Court is alive to the security concerns in the territory. Direct elections to the Legislative Assemblies which is one of the paramount features of representative democracy in India cannot be put on hold until statehood is restored”.
Interestingly, the Court left open the question of whether Parliament can permanently remove the statehood of a state by converting it into one or more Union Territories under Article 3.
The Court said that it may examine this issue in a suitable future case, considering the historical context and its impact on federalism and democracy.
The bench observed:
“This Court… would construe the scope of powers under Article 3 in light of the historical context for the creation of federating units, and its impact on the principles of federalism and representative democracy.”
In a significant move, the Supreme Court had also recommended a commission to study and report on human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir since the 1980s.
Bench:
Chief Justice of India BR Gavai and Justice Vinod Chandran
Case Title:
IN RE ARTICLE 370 OF THE CONSTITUTION AND IN THE MATTER OF (APPLICATION): ZAHOOR AHMAD BHAT AND ANR. vs. UNION OF INDIA
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