NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday scheduled a hearing for August 8 on a plea filed by college teacher Zahoor Ahmed Bhat and activist Khurshaid Ahmad Malik, seeking directions to the Centre for restoring the statehood of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The petitioners - Bhat and Malik -- submitted that the failure to restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir was gravely affecting the rights of the citizens there.
During the hearing on Tuesday, the Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, senior law officer appearing for the Centre, contended that J&K's status as a UT is temporary and that statehood will be restored to the region, except for the Union Territory of Ladakh.
The top court had taken into record the submissions of Mehta and decided to hear the plea on August 8, Friday.
Senior lawyer Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the petitioners duo, mentioned the matter before a bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) B R Gavai, saying that the matter is shown as listed on August 8 and requested that it not be deleted from the list of that day.
The CJI allowed the request and said the matter will not be deleted from the list. "We will hear it on August 8," he added.
The application has urged the top court to pass appropriate directions at the earliest and in a time-bound manner, as the Union had undertaken earlier to do it.
The petitioners pointed out that despite the assurance given by SG Mehta that Jammu and Kashmir's statehood will be restored, the Union has not taken any steps in that regard in the years after the judgment in the Article 370 case.
The application was filed in the disposed case of the abrogation of Article 370, in which the Supreme Court had upheld the removal of Jammu and Kashmir's special status.
“The applicants, being the conscious citizens of Jammu and Kashmir are aggrieved that, even after passing of 10 months of the order of August 11, 2023, till date no steps have been taken to restore the status of statehood of Jammu and Kashmir as a state which is gravely affecting the rights of the inhabitants of Jammu and Kashmir," the plea stated.
Seeking immediate direction to restore the statehood for J&K, the petitioners also added that it was also violating the basic structure of federalism, and it is for that reason that they have preferred the present application to seek appropriate directions to the Union of India for the restoration of the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir in a time-bound manner within two months.
They also clarified and argued that if necessary directions to restore the status of the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir are not passed at the earliest by this court, it would lead to grave harm being caused to the federal structure of the country, their plea further contended.
The petitioners also cited that since the assembly elections were conducted peacefully, there would be no security concerns in case the apex court passed a direction to restore the statehood to the Union Territory within a time-bound period, they urged the apex court.
