NEW DELHI: Noting that the ground realities, including the recent Pahalgam incident cannot be ignored, the Supreme Court on Thursday sought a detailed response from the Centre after hearing a plea -- filed by two residents of Jammu and Kashmir and college teachers -- seeking the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
"You also have to take into consideration the ground realities… you cannot ignore what has happened in Pahalgam. We do not possess all the expertise and there are some decisions to be made by the government," observed the two-judge bench of the top court, headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran.
The court made these observations after being told by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the petitioner duo -- Zahoor Ahmed Bhat and activist Khurshaid Ahmad Malik -- sought an early hearing.
Vehemently opposing the submissions of Sankaranarayanan, the Centre through its Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, pleaded to the apex court for dismissing the plea on the ground that in the past too, the court had imposed costs on such kind of pleas.
The top court was hearing the plea filed by two residents of J&K and college teachers -- Bhat and activist Malik -- seeking directions to the Centre to restore the statehood of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The petitioners submitted that the failure to restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir was gravely affecting the rights of the citizens there.
Earlier, in one of the hearings, Mehta 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 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 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 top court in the disposed of case of abrogation of Article 370 which the Supreme Court upheld the abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
“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 restoration of the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir in a time-bound manner within a period of 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 to the apex court.
