Hope SC sets deadline for restoration of statehood to JK: Omar
Srinagar/New Delhi: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday expressed hope that the Supreme Court will set a deadline on the restoration of statehood to the Union territory after it hears the case in October.
The apex court on Monday refused to advance the date of hearing on pleas seeking restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, saying the matter is already listed on October 10.
“I do not know who went to the Supreme Court for an urgent hearing. We also want there should be no delay in this decision,” Abdullah told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
He said his government has been after the restoration of statehood for the last ten months since it took over.
“Our first decision in the first cabinet meeting was to pass a resolution on statehood. In my first meeting with the prime minister, the first thing I did was to handover the cabinet resolution on statehood to him,” he said.
“We have been waiting, but we have not had any benefit. Unfortunately, the SC is not ready to hear this issue before October 10. We will wait some more and are still hopeful that while the Centre did not take a decision, the SC will,” he added.
The chief minister said had the SC not directed the Centre to conduct the assembly elections in J-K, “perhaps I would not have been here before you as chief minister today”.
“The elections in J-K were possible only when the SC set a deadline. Unfortunately, the SC did not set a deadline on statehood and that is why we are being dragged so much.
“I hope when the issue comes before the SC on October 10, it would set a deadline and our statehood is restored immediately,” he said.
To a question about a protest led by PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti seeking the transfer of prisoners from jails outside the J-K, Abdullah while there was nothing wrong in the protest, but the decisions on the matters of security are taken in Delhi.
“We all are worried about it. But nothing can happen by doing anything in Srinagar. The decisions on the security in Jammu and Kashmir are taken in Delhi, in the Home Ministry. So, better is that she should go to Delhi, meet the Home Minister and raise this issue with him the way we did,” he said.
The CM said his government placed the issue before Union Home Minister Amit Shah because the decision has to be taken there.
“If they (PDP) are doing it just for a show, then let them do it. No one will have any objection to it,” he added.
Asked about the signature campaign announced by him during his Independence Day speech to garner support for the restoration of statehood, Abdullah said that is going on. “When we complete that, we will take that to the Central government and the SC”.
Earlier, the Supreme Court refused to advance the date of hearing on pleas seeking the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, saying the matter is already listed on October 10.
On August 14, a bench headed by Chief Justice B R Gavai had sought within eight weeks the Centre’s response on a separate plea seeking restoration of statehood to the union territory.
“I am seeking early listing of a contempt petition relating to abrogation of Article 370. Statehood was to be granted to Jammu and Kashmir,” a lawyer told the bench also comprising Justice N V Anjaria.
“It is listed already on October 10,” the CJI said on Monday while refusing to advance the date of hearing.
“We are in the midst of a constitutional bench hearing (the bench is hearing a presidential reference on fixing timelines for governors and the president),” Justice Gavai said.
While seeking the Centre’s response, the bench had earlier said, “You also have to take into consideration the ground realities… you cannot ignore what has happened in Pahalgam.” It said this when a counsel had sought an early hearing.
On December 11, 2023, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the revocation of Article 370, which accorded special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, even as it ordered that assembly elections be held in the union territory by September 2024 and its statehood be restored “at the earliest”.
In its December 2023 verdict, the apex court held that Article 370, which was incorporated in the Indian Constitution in 1949 to grant special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was a temporary provision.
Last year, a separate plea was filed in the top court seeking directions to the Centre for the restoration of statehood within two months.
