NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will pronounce its judgment on December 11 on pleas challenging the August 5-6 2019 mega decisions by the Narendra Modi government to dilute Article 370 of the Constitution, which granted special status to erstwhile border state of Jammu and Kashmir.
A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, and Surya Kant, had on September 5, 2023 reserved its judgment on the batch of pleas.
The Constitution bench had heard the arguments in the matter for 16 days.
According to the cause-list released by the SC registry, the judgement would be pronounced at 10.30 am on December 11.
The pronouncement would be beamed live on YouTube and SC website.
A battery of senior advocates – Kapil Sibal, Rajeev Dhavan, Gopal Subramanium, Dushyant Dave, Zafar Shah, Gopal Sankaranarayanan represented the petitioners, while he Centre was led by Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. Counsel representing several intervenors also submitted their arguments in the matter before the court.
It is to be noted that the removal of special status of Jammu and Kashmir has been long pending demand by the BJP, current ruling party at the Centre.
The 2019 decisions not only ended the special status but bifurcated the state into two Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
During the hearing, the Centre, however, said the Union Territory status would not remain as permanent.
In an affidavit, the Centre has contended that J&K witnessed unprecedented stability and progress since the move, with the incidents of organised stone pelting becoming a thing of the past.
IAS officer Shah Faesal and activist Shehla Rashid have withdrawn their petitions during the hearing.
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