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The Centre informed the Supreme Court on August 31 that it cannot specify a timeline for the restoration of J&K’s statehood but is ready to hold polls any time now
September 01, 2023 10:22 am | Updated 10:35 am IST
Supreme Court of India in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu
The Centre on Thursday conveyed to the Supreme Court its inability to commit to an exact time period within which the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir would be restored to full Statehood. The Union government, however, said Jammu and Kashmir was ready to hold elections “any time now”.
Appearing before a Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured the court that the Union Territory status of Jammu and Kashmir was only a “temporary phenomenon”.
Mr. Mehta said Jammu and Kashmir had seen “enormous changes” post abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. Terrorism, infiltration, stone-pelting and casualties among security personnel have reduced by 45.2%, 90.2%, 97.2% and 65.9%, respectively. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for the petitioners however opposed the statistics provided by the Centre on the status of normalcy in the valley.
Chief Justice Chandrachud however clarified that the challenge will be decided solely on the basis of constitutional arguments and not on the statistics presented by the Centre.
On August 5, 2019, the Centre decided to strip the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir of special status and bifurcate it into two Union Territories. By abrogating Article 370, the Central Government revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Several petitions challenging the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, were referred to a Constitution Bench in 2019.
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