Senior advocate Sarajevo Havana, appearing for Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference, had said that he is supporting Center on the question that no reference is needed to a larger bench.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday said there are no reasons to refer a batch of pleas, challenging the constitutional validity of the Centre’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 on August 5 last year, to a larger seven-judge bench.
A five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice N V Ramana pronounced the order.
The apex court had on January 23 reserved its order on the issue of whether the batch of pleas would be referred to a larger seven-judge bench.
Article 370: 5 judge Constitution bench of the SC held that there is no need of setting up a larger bench
Opposing the plea, the Centre had said that abrogation of provisions of Article 370, which granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, has become a “fait accompli” leaving the sole option to accept the change.
Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference, had said that he is supporting Centre on the question that no reference is needed to a larger bench.
A number of petitions have been filed in the apex court including those of private individuals, lawyers, activists and political parties and they have also challenged the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which splits J&K into two union territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
The Supreme Court had earlier heard the detailed arguments and submissions from the respective petitioners and respondent, including that of the Centre’s, and had reserved its judgement on the batch of petitions.
In August last year, the government abrogated Article 370, which accorded special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the region into two Union territories- Jammu and Kashmir and Lambada.
