DAP hails SC’s decision to have early hearing on Article 370
Jammu/Delhi: Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Democratic Azad Party (DAP) on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to consider a plea challenging the Centre’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370, for an early listing of petitions.
The article gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
The party said it believes that the apex court would give “justice to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and safeguard their interests”.
“DAP hails the supreme decision to have an early hearing on the pleas challenging Article 370 abrogation by the Union government in August 2019, revoking the special status enjoyed by Jammu and Kashmir,” DAP spokesperson Salman Nizami said in a statement here.
He said Azad, a former chief minister, has been stressing about it from day one.
“We believe that the Supreme Court would give justice to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and safeguard their interests,” the statement said.
Notably, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would consider a plea for early listing of petitions challenging the Centre’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 which had given special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
“We will examine and give a date,” a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha said when intervenor Radha Kumar, an academic and author, sought early listing of the petitions on the issue.
Earlier on April 25 and September 23, a bench headed by the then CJI N V Ramana, since retired, had agreed to list for hearing the pleas challenging the Centre’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370.
The apex court will have to re-constitute a five-judge bench to hear the pleas as ex-CJI Ramana and Justice R Subhash Reddy, who were part of the five-judge bench which had heard the pleas, have retired.
Besides the two former judges, Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, B R Gavai and Surya Kant were part of the bench which, on March 2, 2020, had declined to refer to a larger seven-judge bench the batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Centre’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 on August 5, 2019.
Several petitions challenging the Centre’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which split J-K into two Union Territories Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh were referred to a Constitution Bench headed by Justice Ramana in 2019 by the then CJI Ranjan Gogoi.
Press Trust of India
