BIG: Supreme Court won't rule out possibility of referring Art 370 pleas to a larger bench

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court's Constitution bench comprising Justices NV Ramana, Sanjay Kaul, R Subhash Reddy, BR Gavai and Surya Kant stated that the question of referring the petitions challenging Article 370 to a larger bench would be kept open until the end of the hearing. It was hearing a bunch of pleas challenging the validity of the revocation of the special status of J&K. At the beginning of the hearing, Justice Ramana said that the three main issues before the Bench for consideration were the abrogation of Article 370, reorganization of J&K and Ladakh and imposition of President’s Rule in the region. The Bench added that it was inclined to set a time limit for the counsels to make their arguments to ensure that the matter is wrapped up at the earliest.  

Read: Amit Shah On Abrogation Of Article 370: "This Was Our Resolve From The Beginning"

'This was our resolve from the beginning'

Speaking at the Republic Summit 2019 on November 27, Union Home Minister Amit Shah contended that there was no reason for people to get surprised about the government’s move to abrogate Article 370 as it was the BJP’s resolve from its inception. Moreover, he observed that this issue had been debated for the last 7 decades. Elaborating the BJP’s position, Shah mentioned that two constitutions cannot co-exist in one country.  

Read: EU Delegation Enroute To Kashmir, Share Their Reactions With The Media

Shah remarked, "It was the prime agenda of Jan Sangh first and then BJP that we will abrogate Article 370- this is not good for the security of the country. In a country, two constitutions, two symbols, and two heads cannot co-exist. This was our resolve from the beginning. Because we didn’t have the majority before, we couldn’t do it. When we got the majority, we did it. Nobody should be surprised by this.” 

Read: EU Lawmakers' Visit To J&K: Inside Details Of Visit Accessed

Revocation of special status

A Presidential notification combined with requisite legislation passed by both the House of Parliament in early August led to Article 370 becoming virtually redundant. This implied that the special status of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was scrapped. Furthermore, the region was bifurcated into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. Thereafter, restrictions were imposed in the state, which are being gradually lifted over the weeks. However, key leaders such as former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti are still in detention.  

Read: 'Some Of J&K Did Slip Into Their Hands, Now Illegally Controlled': PM