Supreme Court upheld the decision to abrogate Article 370
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Article 370 Supreme Court Verdict Live Updates: The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the government’s decision to abrogate Article 370, which bestowed special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and said steps should be taken to conduct elections in the assembly by September 30 next year. Writing the judgement for himself and Justices Gavai and Surya Kant, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud said Article 370 of the Constitution was a temporary provision and the president has the power to revoke it.The apex court also upheld the validity of the decision to carve out the union territory of Ladakh from Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.The erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir does not have internal sovereignty different from other states of the country, he said
Nobody is arrested in Jammu & Kashmir ahead of the verdict on Article 370. LG Sinha said.
Supreme Court also directed EC to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir by September 30,2024;Restoration of statehood shall take place as soon as possible, CJI said.
The central government further asserted that the status of Jammu and Kashmir as a Union Territory is only temporary and that it will be restored to statehood, while Ladakh will remain a Union Territory.
The five-judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, and Surya Kant, delivered the verdict today. The apex court had reserved its judgment on September 5 after hearing arguments for 16 days.
The central government, represented by Attorney General R Venkataraman and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, defended its decision to revoke Article 370, stating that there was no “constitutional fraud” in repealing the provision that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
The government argued that Jammu and Kashmir was not the only state whose accession to India was through instruments of accession, and that many other princely states had also joined India after independence in 1947, with conditionalities.
