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New Delhi, October 10 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Friday gave the Central government four weeks’ additional time to respond to applications seeking restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in a time-bound manner.
Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran’s bench passed the order after Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, the Centre’s second-highest law officer, sought more time to respond to the petitioners’ contention that the undertaking given before the Constitution bench to restore statehood in Jammu and Kashmir should be implemented.
“There are circumstances, situations and many angles. There are views across the border,” SG Mehta said, adding that a group of people wanted to present a “serious picture” of Jammu and Kashmir on the global platform.
“The Jammu and Kashmir region has made progress and everyone is happy and 99.99 percent of the people there consider the Government of India as their government,” he said.
In its order, the bench led by CJI Gavai took note of SG Mehta’s submission that although substantial progress has been made in Jammu and Kashmir, incidents like the Pahalgam terror attack have to be considered before taking a final decision.
The top court further said that the elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly were conducted peacefully and the Central and State governments are in consultation regarding restoration of statehood.
In the last hearing on August 14, the bench led by CJI Gavai had pointed to the “ground realities” and the Pahalgam terror attack as it accepted the Centre’s request to list the case after eight weeks.
“You have to keep in mind the ground reality also. You cannot ignore what happened in Pahalgam,” the top court told the applicants seeking first hearing on their plea seeking restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir in a time-bound manner.
The applicants argued that the continued delay in restoring statehood is “seriously affecting the rights of the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir and also violating the idea of ​​federalism”.
He said failure to restore statehood within a time-bound framework is a violation of federalism, which is part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
It may be recalled that a 5-judge Constitution bench headed by the then CJI DY Chandrachud in its judgment ‘on Article 370 of the Constitution’ had left open the question whether Parliament could abolish the character of a State by converting it into one or more Union Territories relying on an oral statement made by the Center that statehood would be restored to Jammu and Kashmir.
During the oral hearing, the Centre’s law officer had said that the Union Home Ministry cannot give any exact time frame and it will take “some time” to restore statehood in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Constitution bench had ordered the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take steps to hold elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly constituted under Section 14 of the Reorganization Act by September 30, 2024, and said “the status of the State shall be restored as soon as possible and expeditiously”.
–IANS
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