Supreme Court upholds scrapping of Article 370

A Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Monday unanimously endorsed the Union government’s August 2019 decision to abrogate Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu & Kashmir, calling the move the “culmination of the process of integration” of the erstwhile state into the Union of India.

- Utkarsh Anand

The bench, comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, Bhushan R Gavai and Surya Kant, further directed the Election Commission of India to conduct polls to the J&K legislative assembly by September 30, 2024, and asked the Centre to restore statehood to the region “as soon as possible”.

In a historic decision that ends a chapter that started with the ascension of Jammu & Kashmir to India in 1947 at a time when the region’s political future was uncertain, the judges declared the abrogation to be a perfectly valid exercise of power by the President, ruling that Article 370was always meant to be a temporary provision.

The judges were also in unison about the validity of the two constitutional orders (COs) issued in August 2019 by the President in applying all provisions of the Indian Constitution to J&K and the cession of Article 370, declaring that the President was not required to obtain the approval of the J&K constituent assembly (which was dissolved in 1957) or the J&K legislative assembly before notifying under Article 370 that “this article shall cease to be operative”. 

“The declaration issued by the President in exercise of the power under Article 370(3) is a culmination of the process of integration. Thus, we do not find that the President’s exercise of power under Article 370(3) was mala fide,” held the court.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the judgment fortified India's "essence of unity". "It is a resounding declaration of hope, progress, and unity for our sisters and brothers in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. The court, in its profound wisdom, has fortified the very essence of unity that we, as Indians, hold dear and cherish above all else," he said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).