Plea to restore J&K statehood to be considered by SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday announced that it will take into consideration scheduling a hearing for a plea that calls for the time-bound restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood.

Senior attorney Gopal Sankaranarayanan argued on behalf of one of the applicants before a three-judge panel of the Supreme Court, which included Justices J B Pardiwala, Manoj Misra, and Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud, that the plea required an immediate hearing due to the sensitivity and importance of the case, the New Indian Express reported.

The senior attorney sought an urgent hearing and submitted to the SC, "There is an MA (Miscellaneous Application) for conferring the statehood. It was noted (in last year's judgement) that it has to be time-bound.”

The CJI-led bench assured Sankarnaryanan that the matter would be heard as soon as feasible, even though it did not provide a date for the hearing. A senior college teacher and activist has filed a plea with the Supreme Court, requesting guidance on the prompt restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood in a time-bound period as without this, the results of the assembly elections in the Union Territory would have no significance.

In their plea filed before the Supreme Court, the petitioners, teacher Zahoor Ahmed Bhat and activist Khurshaid Ahmad Malik claimed that the Union of India had not taken any action to provide a timeline for the implementation of the court's directive to restore Jammu and Kashmir's statehood "at the earliest and as soon as possible.”

The plea further claimed that the rights of the residents of the Valley are being severely impacted by the failure to reinstate Jammu and Kashmir's statehood.

The petitioner emphasised that since the recently held assembly elections in the valley were peaceful and there were no reports of disturbances or security concerns, there would be "no security concerns" in the event that the top court issued an order restoring statehood to the valley within a set amount of time.

"The formation of the Legislative Assembly before the restoration of statehood would violate the idea of federalism, which forms part of the basic structure of the Constitution of India," the plea said.

It added that there has always been a federal relationship between the Union of India and the Valley. Therefore, it is imperative that statehood be reinstated "so that they can enjoy an autonomy in their individual identity and also play an important part in the overall development of the Country.”

The plea went on to say that from April 19, 2024, to May 20, 2024, general elections were likewise held without any incidents of violence of any kind. It was also mentioned that Panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir would take place in the upcoming months and that they would be held in a calm and orderly manner.

As the Union of India had promised in the current procedures, there is therefore no obstacle to the granting or restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's status as a state, including security issues, violence, or any other disturbances.

"Jammu and Kashmir is being operated as a Union territory for a period of almost five years now, which has caused many impediments and grave losses to the development of Jammu and Kashmir and has affected the democratic rights of its citizens. Despite, there being no impediment, in actualizing the directions of this Court which was supposed to be done in an expeditious manner, the Union of India has failed to take any cogent steps in this regard. Therefore, it is important that the Union of India be directed to provide a timeline for restoration of the Statehood of Jammu and Kashmir within a period of two months," the plea said.

It was also submitted that the balance of convenience was in favour of the petitioners. "We have a good case on merits and if the reliefs as claimed are not granted, grave prejudice will be caused to the Applicants along with the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir their territorial and democratic integrity and would lead to grave violation of the basic structure doctrine," the plea said.