SC to hear pleas challenging decision on Article 370 after Dussehra break

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take up petitions, questioning the validity of the decision of August 5, 2019 to scrap the special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution, after Dussehra vacation.

A bench led by Justice U U Lalit said the matter would be listed after Dussehra vacations as senior advocate P C Sen mentioned the matter for hearing.

The Supreme Court will go for a week-long Dussehra break on October 3 and reopen on October 10.

Sen mentioned the matter on behalf of a group of bureaucrats Radha Kumar, G K Pillai and others who jointly challenged the validity of the Union government's decision.

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It is be noted that the matter has not come up for hearing after March, 2020.

A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court had in March 2020, held that there was no need to refer the batch of petitions challenging the decision related to Article 370 to a seven-judge Constitution bench.

The Centre, by modifying the provisions of Article 370, had revoked the special status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and subsequently, the state was bifurcated into two union territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.

A five-judge Constitution bench has to be constituted afresh to consider the matter due to the retirement of Justices N V Ramana and R Subhash Reddy.