J&K Statehood
SC grants 4 more weeks to Centre to reply on plea for J&K's statehood
This story was originally published at 13:02 IST on 10 October 2025
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NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court on Friday granted four more weeks to the Centre to reply to an application seeking to direct it to restore statehood for Jammu & Kashmir. The application was filed in a case in which the apex court had on Dec. 11, 2023, upheld the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which conferred special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir.
The apex court noted Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta's statement that elections to the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly were held in a peaceful manner and an elected government was put in place. Mehta said there has been substantial progress in Jammu & Kashmir but certain incidents, including the Pahalgam terror attack, have taken place and these all things have to be taken into consideration before a final call. "It is stated that the Centre and state are in consultation and the Solicitor General seeks more time to respond," said a bench led by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai.
On Aug. 14, the apex court had sought the government's reply and observed that one also has to take into consideration the ground realities of Jammu & Kashmir and cannot ignore what happened in the Pahalgam terror attack. Mehta had then said that the application was not maintainable.
The application - filed by college teacher Zahoor Ahmed Bhat and activist Khurshaid Ahmad Malik in 2024 - states that failure to restore Jammu & Kashmir's statehood was gravely affecting the rights of citizens of the Valley. Bhat and Malik said that since the Assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir were conducted peacefully, there would be no security concerns if the apex court passed an order to restore the Valley's statehood in a time-bound manner. The conversion of the state of Jammu & Kashmir into two Union territories resulted in the Valley being given a lesser form of elected government, the petitioners said.
The petitioners said that Jammu & Kashmir had always had a federal relationship with the Union of India. Thus, it was of utmost importance that its statehood was restored so that Jammu & Kashmir could enjoy autonomy in its individual identity and play an important part in the overall development of the country, the petitioners said.
On Aug. 5, 2019, the Centre issued a presidential order scrapping the special status of Jammu & Kashmir and making all provisions of the Indian Constitution applicable to the state. According to the government, this was done to correct a "historical blunder" and truly integrate Jammu & Kashmir with the Indian Union. Article 370 granted special powers to Jammu & Kashmir to decide the extent to which the Indian Constitution would be applicable to the state. Through another order, the government bifurcated the state into two Union territories - Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. On Aug. 6, 2019, Parliament approved the presidential orders, superseding the 1954 order.
In its 2023 judgment, the apex court had dismissed petitions against the abrogation of Article 370 and also rejected review petitions in the case in May 2024. In 2023, the top court also directed that statehood be restored to Jammu & Kashmir at the earliest and steps be taken by the Election Commission of India to conduct elections for its legislative Assembly by Sept. 30, 2023.
Elections to the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly were held in three phases in 2024. An alliance of the National Conference, the Congress, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) secured a majority in the 90-member Jammu & Kashmir Assembly, winning 49 seats. However, the Congress party declined to be part of the government. Thereafter, National Conference Vice-President Omar Abdullah took oath as the first chief minister of the Union territory of Jammu & Kashmir. End
Reported by Surya Tripathi
Edited by Avishek Dutta
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