NEW DELHI: The
Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider listing a bunch of petitions challenging the validity of law scrapping
Article 370 of the constitution that gave special status to
Jammu and kashmir, bifurcating the state into two Union Territories, after summer vacation.
A bench comprising Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justice Hima Kohli took note of the submissions of senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for one of the petitioners, that the plea needed urgent hearing in view of the delimitation exercise being carried out in the state.
“This is the Article 370 matter. The delimitation is also going on,” the senior lawyer said.
The
CJI said it has to be listed before a five-judge bench and since some judges in original bench hearing petitions have retired, it has to be reconstituted. Petitions were mentioned by senior advocates Shekhar Naphade and P Chidambaram, who wanted the matter to be listed next week.
"Let me see," the CJI said, adding, “This is a five-judge matter. I will have to reconstitute the bench.”
The court agreed to re-constitute a five-judge bench to hear pleas after summer vacation.
Several petitions challenging the Centre's decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which splits J-K into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh -- were referred to a Constitution Bench headed by Justice N V Ramana in 2019 by the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi.
(With inputs from PTI)