New Delhi: A five-judge constitution bench in the Supreme Court will hear the matter challenging the government’s decision to abrogate the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 on July 11. The bench of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice Sanjeev Khanna, Justice BR Gavai and Justice Suryakant will hear. More than 20 petitions challenging the central government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution were filed in the Supreme Court. It was decided to hear them three years and three months ago in March 2020. But then, despite the demands of some petitioners, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court had decided not to refer these petitions to a seven-judge constitution bench.
The petitioners then argued that the two Supreme Court judgments – Prem Nath Kaul v. State of Jammu and Kashmir and Sampat Prakash v. State of Jammu and Kashmir – delivered by a five-judge bench and relating to the interpretation of Article 370 were mutually exclusive. were contradictory. However, the five-judge constitution bench hearing the case rejected the argument saying there was no contradiction between the two decisions.
The petitions were also mentioned for early hearing before a bench headed by CJI Justice DY Chandrachud in February this year. The CJI had then said that he would “take a decision” on listing it. This decision has now been made with the bench being fixed.
