SC to consider plea for restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood

The Supreme Court on Thursday said it will consider listing a plea seeking time-bound restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for applicants, urged a bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra that the plea needed an urgent hearing.

"There is an MA (Miscellaneous Application) for conferring statehood. It was noted (in last year's judgement) that it has to be time-bound," the senior lawyer said.

"I will deal with it," the CJI said.

The fresh application was filed by Zahoor Ahmad Bhat, an academician, and Khurshaid Ahmad Malik, a socio-political activist, in Jammu and Kashmir.

On December 11, 2023, the Supreme Court had unanimously upheld the revocation of Article 370 of the Constitution, which accorded a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, in 2019 and ordered that assembly elections be held there by September 2024. The court had also said that Jammu and Kashmir's statehood should be restored "at the earliest".