NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on October 10 granted the union government four weeks to file its response on petitions seeking the restoration of statehood to J&K. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India BR Gavai heard submissions from both the petitioners and the Centre during the hearing.
The CJI noted the sensitivity of the issue, saying that recent incidents, including the terror attack in Pahalgam, must be considered while determining the timeline for restoring statehood. The pleas were listed at serial number 17 before a bench led by the CJI. There are several petitions on the subject matter and these have been bunched together. Advocate Soayib Qureshi, representing one of the petitioners, said the Centre has not filed its response on the matter so far.
Appearing for the petitioners, senior advocate Gopal Sankarnarayanan argued that despite the revocation of J&K’s statehood in 2019 and the subsequent conduct of elections, the region’s full statehood had yet to be reinstated. “A significant amount of time has passed, and we are now in 2025,” he pointed out. It bears mention here that the elections to the legislative assembly of the Union Territory (UT) of J&K were held in September-October 2024, with the results declared on October 8.
Representing the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta emphasized the complex security situation, remarking, “Not only water, but a great deal of blood has flowed since then.” He said the government was holding consultations between the Union and UT administrations and that recent security challenges needed careful consideration. This basically means that the Centre has not formulated its response to be filed in the apex court.
After hearing all sides, the court directed the Union government to submit its detailed reply within four weeks, setting the stage for further proceedings on the matter.
During an earlier hearing on August 14, the Supreme Court observed that the ground realities in J&K must be taken into account, noting that incidents such as the Pahalgam attack of April 22 could not be overlooked. The brutal killing of 24 Hindu tourists that day in Baisaran (Pahalgam) by Pakistan-backed terrorists had led to Operation Sindoor which has not been called off so far.
The petitioners have argued that the delay in restoring statehood undermines the principle of federalism, which forms part of the Constitution’s basic structure. They also contended that no timeline has been outlined to implement the Supreme Court’s December 2023 directive, which stated that “restoration of statehood shall take place at the earliest and as soon as possible”. The observation was made by a Bench headed by then CJI D Y Chandrachud who had given their verdict on a bunch of petitions regarding Article 370 and Article 35-A.
On the subject of restoration of statehood to J&K, Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary on Thursday called BJP leader Sunil Sharma as him a “lollipop leader”. Speaking to reporters, Choudhary said: “If you conduct his narco test, even he would demand statehood.”
He had also accused Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cheif Mehbooba Mufti I of speaking BJP’s language. “She was responsible for destroying the special status of J&K. The fact is that the BJP-PDP alliance is still intact,” he said, adding that the people of J&K would never forgive Mehbooba for destroying the region’s special status.
