Srinagar: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to refer the matter concerning the Centre’s 5 August, 2019 decision revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir to a larger bench.
“A five-judge bench is competent enough to hear the case,“ Apex court said.
The judgment was delivered by a Constitution Bench of Justices NV Ramana, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, R Subhash Reddy, BR Gavai and Surya Kant after the order on the issue was reserved on 23 January.
The apex court said this in response to a petition filed by NGO People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association and an intervenor who had sought referring the matter to a larger bench.
The petitioners had given ground that two judgments of apex court – Prem Nath Kaul versus Jammu and Kashmir in 1959 and Sampat Prakash versus Jammu and Kashmir in 1970 – which dealt with the issue of Article 370 are in direct conflict and therefore the current bench of five judges could not hear the issue.
The apex court after hearing the arguments had said that case would only be referred to a larger bench if it finds major contradictions in the two judgments, as claimed by the petitioners.
Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre told the court that “the abrogation of provisions of Article 370, has now become a “fait accompli” leaving sole option to accept the change”.
Venugopal had said two earlier judgments were not related to each other and dealt with different issues.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Jammu and Kashmir administration seconded the arguments of the Attorney General and didn’t favour reference to larger bench.
Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, who appeared on behalf of Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference also supported Centre on the question that no reference is needed to a larger bench.
A number of petitions have been filed in the apex court including those of private individuals, lawyers, activists and political parties and they have also challenged the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which splits Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. (KNS).
