Supreme Court will hear the petition after the abrogation of Article 370

The court agreed to reconstitute a five-judge bench to hear the petitions after the summer vacation.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider listing after the summer vacation petitions challenging the Centre’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

A bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and Justice Hima Kohli took note of the submissions of senior advocate Shekhar Naphde, appearing for one of the petitioners, that the petition required urgent hearing in view of the delimitation exercise in the state.

“This is a matter of Article 370. Delimitation is also underway,” said the senior counsel.

“Let me see,” said the CJI, “it is a five-judge case. I have to reconstitute the bench.” The court agreed to reconstitute a five-judge bench to hear the petitions after the summer vacation.

Several petitions challenging the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370 and provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019, which bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh – were referred to Justice NV Ramana. A Constitution Bench headed by by the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi in 2019.