Considering the Central government’s stand that statehood will be restored to J&K, the Constitution Bench of of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai and Surya Kant found it unnecessary to determine whether the reorganisation of the erstwhile State into two UTs was permissible.
The Court 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.
Mehta had also told the Court that the status of Union Territory of Ladakh will not be affected by the restoration of statehood to J&K.
“In view of the submission made by the Solicitor General that statehood of Jammu & Kashmir would be restored, we do not find it necessary to determine whether the reorganization of the State of Jammu & Kashmir into two Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir is permissible under Article 3 [of Constitution of India,” the top court said.
The observations were made in its judgment upholding the Central government’s 2019 decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution which had conferred special status on the erstwhile State of J&K.
The verdict came in a batch of petitions challenging the Central government’s 2019 move to delete Article 370.
The parliament subsequently passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act bifurcating the State into the two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Source: Barandbench
