Supreme Court to deliver verdict on pleas challenging abrogation of Article 370 on Dec 11

The Supreme Court is set to announce its decision on December 11 regarding a group of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, which bestowed special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

As per the cause list for Monday, December 11, available on the Supreme Court’s website, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud will deliver the verdict. Other members of the bench include Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, and Surya Kant.

The apex court had on September 5 reserved its verdict in the matter after a marathon 16-day hearing.

Throughout the proceedings, the court heard arguments from Attorney General R Venkataramani, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, and senior advocates representing the government and intervenors defending the abrogation of Article 370.

Senior advocates including Kapil Sibal, Gopal Subramanium, Rajeev Dhavan, Zaffar Shah, Dushyant Dave and others had argued on behalf of the petitioners.

The lawyers had dwelt on various issues including the constitutional validity of the Centre’s August 5, 2019 decision to abrogate the provision, the validity of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, which split the erstwhile state into two Union Territories, challenges to imposition of Governor’s rule in Jammu and Kashmir on June 20, 2018 and imposition of President’s rule in the erstwhile state on December 19, 2018 and its extension on July 3, 2019.

Several petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 that divided the erstwhile state into two union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh – were referred to a Constitution bench in 2019.

With inputs from PTI