The Apex Court of India has now fixed November 14 to commence hearings on a batch of pleas that challenge the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
The BJP led NDA government’s controversial move to abrogate article 370, has been under criticism since its implementation on August 5, 2019.
The opposition parties have questioned the move on various occasions and pleas regarding the move had been filed in the Supreme Court.
A five-judge Constitution bench led by Justice N V Ramana was scheduled to hear the pleas challenging the Centre’s decision to scrap Article 370 from Tuesday onwards. The court was to take up individual petitions on alleged restrictions imposed in the Valley and lack of access to basic facilities.
Earlier, a special bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had said that due to paucity of time, it could not hear the cases. The CJI is busy with the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute suit that is being heard on a daily basis and has been going on for more than a month now.
The pleas also included hearing of petitions that challenged restrictions on media’s presence in the valley.
On August 5, the Centre moved to end special status given to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the region into two union territories; one being Jammu and Kashmir and the other is now Ladakh. A day later, Parliament passed the changes in the form of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019.