Supreme Court to take call on listing of pleas challenging Article 370

The Supreme Court on Friday said it would take a call on listing for hearing a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories.

"I will take a call on it," said a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud as senior advocate Raju Ramachandran mentioned the matter for urgent listing of the case.

The matter was mentioned before many times for urgent listing but it could not be taken up.

The petitions which are pending since 2019 have not been taken up for hearing since March 2020.

Various petitions are pending before the top court challenging the validity of the law scrapping Article 370 of the Constitution of India and special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating the state into two Union Territories.

On August 5 2019, the Central government announced its decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir granted under Article 370 and split the region into two Union territories.

A five-judge Constitution bench in March 2020 had declined to refer to a larger 7-judge bench a batch of petitions challenging the Constitutional validity of the Centre's decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 on August 5, saying there were no reasons to refer the matter to a larger bench.

A number of petitions have been filed in the top court including those of private individuals, lawyers, activists and politicians and political parties challenging the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which splits Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.