On Monday, the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission of India to hold elections in Jammu and Kashmir by September 30, 2024. Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, writing for himself and Justices Gavai and Surya Kant, stated that Article 370 of the Constitution was a temporary provision that can be revoked by the president.
The court also upheld the validity of the decision that split Ladakh from Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.
He said that the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir has no internal sovereignty different from other states of the country.
“… all provisions of the Indian Constitution can be applied to J-K,” the CJI stated. “We hold the exercise of presidential power to issue constitutional order abrogating Article 370 of Constitution as valid,” the CJI said.
Jammu and Kashmir become an integral part of India, as shown in Articles 1 and 370, he stated while pronouncing the judgment.
“The Constituent Assembly of J&K was never intended to be permanent body,” the CJI said.
Justice Chandrachud said that Article 370, which was abrogated on August 5, 2019, was an interim arrangement owing to war conditions in the erstwhile state.
The bench, which had CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices Gavai, Surya Kant, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sanjiv Khanna, assembled at 10.56 a.m. to deliver three separate and concurring judgements.
Following a 16-day hearing on a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370’s provisions, the supreme court reserved its verdict on September 5.
The pronouncement of the verdict by the CJI is underway.