Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi on Friday said that the abrogation was not an executive decision and that the entirety of the Parliament which included Members of Parliament (MPs) of Jammu and Kashmir had been taken into confidence.
Mr. Dwivedi also apprised the Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y Chandrachud that, unlike the Constituent Assembly of India, the J&K Constituent Assembly enjoyed limited powers and always abided by the dictats of the Indian Constitution.
‘This methodology of the J&K Constituent Assembly is very akin to the juristic concept of devolution of powers. It is not an independent power like the Constituent Assembly of India’, Mr. Dwivedi said.
The Centre had earlier conveyed to the Supreme Court its inability to commit to an exact time period within which the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir would be restored to full Statehood. The Union government, however, said Jammu and Kashmir was ready to hold elections “any time now”.
Appearing before the Constitution Bench, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured the court that the Union Territory status of Jammu and Kashmir was only a “temporary phenomenon”.
Mr. Mehta said Jammu and Kashmir had seen “enormous changes” post-abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. Terrorism, infiltration, stone-pelting and casualties among security personnel have reduced by 45.2%, 90.2%, 97.2% and 65.9%, respectively. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for the petitioners however opposed the statistics provided by the Centre on the status of normalcy in the valley.
Chief Justice Chandrachud however clarified that the challenge will be decided solely on the basis of constitutional arguments and not on the statistics presented by the Centre.
Also Read | Explained | What is the debate around Article 370?
On August 5, 2019, the Centre decided to strip the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir of special status and bifurcate it into two Union Territories. By abrogating Article 370, the Central Government revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Several petitions challenging the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, were referred to a Constitution Bench in 2019.
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