Article 370: Change in J&K status comes under judicial scrutiny of SC's Constitutional bench

The Centre's decision to change the Constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir came under the legal scrutiny on Wednesday with the Supreme Court referring a batch of pleas against the abrogation of Article 370 for hearing in first week of October by its five-judge bench.

The petitioners have challenged the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 and the Presidential Orders that followed.

The top court issued notices to the Centre and the state administration and sought their response on the issues raised in the petitions that the legislation and the Presidential Orders are "illegal and violative" of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed under Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi did not agree with the Centre that there was no need for issuing notices in the matter as Attorney General K K Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta were marking their presence in the court.

"We will refer the matter to a 5-judge Constitution bench," said the bench, also comprising Justices S A Bobde and S A Nazeer. It did not accept the argument that notices would have a "cross-border repercussion".

The AG, who was of the view that the notice should not be issued while referring the matter to the Constitution bench, said deliberations here on Article 370 would be taken to the United Nations.

He was apparently hinting that the attention of the UN would be drawn to the hearings here by those who are opposing the Centre's decision, including the neighbouring country.

As the counsel appearing for both the sides were involved in arguments and counter-arguments, the bench said, "We know what to do, we have passed the order, we are not going to change."