Supreme Court Sets Date For Hearing Pleas Challenging Article 370 Abrogation

A five-judge Constitution bench, led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, will hear a batch of pleas challenging the government's decision to abrogate Article 370, which earlier granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

The hearing is scheduled for 11 July, nearly four years after the contentious decision was made.

The apex court website has issued a notice stating that the bench will consider the pleas filed by various individuals, including IAS officer Shah Faesal.

Shah Faesal, a 2010 batch IAS officer and the first Kashmiri to top the all-India civil services examination, was detained for more than a year following the abrogation of Article 370.

He resigned from his position and established the Jammu and Kashmir People's Movement (JKPM), a political entity, in January 2019.

Despite his resignation, the government did not accept it and instead assigned Faesal, a doctor by profession, to the Union Culture Ministry.

In August 2019, the Centre made the decision to remove the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and divide it into two Union Territories.

That same year, a Constitution bench was assigned to handle multiple petitions challenging the Centre's decision to revoke Article 370 and implement the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which resulted in the division of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories.

The People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, and an intervenor had previously requested that the matter be referred to a larger bench due to two conflicting judgements from the apex court, one in 1959 and the other in 1970, on the issue of Article 370.

As a result, the current bench of five judges was deemed unable to hear the case.

The Supreme Court, in 2020, ruled that it did not agree with the petitioners and stated that there was no conflict between the judgements. The issue would, therefore, be heard by the five-judge bench.

In 2019, Faesal submitted a petition to the Supreme Court.

In April 2022, Faesal's request to withdraw his resignation from service was accepted by the government, and he was reinstated.

Last year in April, Faesal filed an application to have his name removed from the list of seven petitioners challenging the removal of Article 370 from the Constitution.

The other individuals involved in the case are Javid Ahmad Bhat, Shehla Rashid Shora, Ilyas Laway, Saif Ali Khan, Rohit Sharma, and Mohammad Hussain Padder.

Aakarsh Kamra, the Advocate-on-Record, filed a plea on behalf of Faesal and others. He mentioned that Rashid has also submitted an application to have her name removed from the list of petitioners.