Supreme Court reserves judgement in Article 370 case

A five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, on Tuesday, September 5, reserved its judgement in the batch of petitions challenging the 2019 Presidential Order taking away the special status accorded to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and its bifurcation into two Union Territories. The hearing of the case recommenced after three years, and went on for 16 days, starting from August 2. The bench also comprises Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, and Surya Kant.

The petitioners, in addition to challenging the special order, also challenged the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act that bifurcated it into Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

In March 2020, a five-judge Constitution Bench declined to accept the contentions of the petitioners to refer the issue to a larger bench of seven judges. The five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by the then CJI NV Ramana, reasoned that the earlier judgements rendered by the top court in the Prem Nath Kaul case and the Sampat Prakash case, dealing with the interpretation of Article 370, were not in conflict with each other. CJI Chandrachud and Justice Khanna are the new members of the latest bench as Chief Justice Ramana and Justice Subhash Reddy, who were part of the earlier bench, had retired.