Srinagar- The Supreme Court will pronounce on Monday its verdict on a batch of petitions challenging revocation of Article 370 of the Constitution which gave special privileges to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai and Surya Kant, had reserved the verdict on September 5, after hearing extensive arguments for 16 days by both the petitioners and the government in August this year.
The petitioners in the matter have also challenged the J&K Reorganization Act which bifurcated the State into Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.
With Justice SK Kaul retiring from Supreme Court on December 25 and December 15 being the last working day for the Supreme Court before winter vacations, the judgement would be out on Monday.
According to the cause list of December 11, Monday, uploaded on the apex court website, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud would deliver the verdict.
In the course of 16-day marathon hearing, the top court heard arguments from senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Gopal Subramanium, Rajeev Dhavan, Zaffar Shah, Dushyant Dave and others representing the petitions. The Apex Court also heard Attorney General R Venkataramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, senior advocates Harish Salve, Rakesh Dwivedi, V Giri and others on behalf of the Centre and the intervenors defending the abrogation of Article 370.
The lawyers dwelt on various issues including the constitutional validity of the Centre’s August 5, 2019 decision to abrogate the provision, the validity of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, which split the erstwhile state into two Union Territories, challenges to imposition of Governor’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir on June 20, 2018 and imposition of President’s rule in the erstwhile state on December 19, 2018 and its extension on July 3, 2019.
Several petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 that divided the erstwhile state into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh – were referred to a Constitution bench in 2019.
