In its 2023 verdict, the Supreme Court upheld the revocation of Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, while directing that assembly elections be held by September 2024 and statehood be restored “at the earliest.”
The Supreme Court gave an initial response that was not in favour of a petition asking for Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood to be restored .A Bench led by Chief Justice BR Gavai, along with Justice K Vinod Chandran, said the current situation in J&K cannot be ignored and referred to the recent terrorist attack in Pahalgam. “You also have to take into consideration the ground realities; You can’t ignore what happened in Pahalgam,” the judges told Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who was representing the petitioners.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central government, opposed the petition. He said, “We have already assured that statehood will be restored after elections. J&K has a unique situation. I don’t see why this is being raised now. This is not the right time to disturb things. Still, I will seek instructions. Please give us eight weeks.”
Sankaranarayanan reminded the court that in its 2023 ruling upholding the abrogation of Article 370, the Supreme Court had trusted the government’s promise to return statehood to J&K. That was why the earlier Bench did not decide the matter of statehood at the time.
The Supreme Court has now given the government eight weeks to file its reply.
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