Statehood to take time, but J&K ready for polls: Centre

The Union government on Thursday refrained from committing to an “exact time frame” for granting statehood to Jammu & Kashmir even as it told the Supreme Court that it is ready for election to the legislative assembly of the Union territory (UT) “any time now” and that this could take place whenever the state and the central election commissions decide

- Utkarsh Anand

Political parties National Conference, People’s Conference and Apni Party said they were disappointed over the Centre’s statement in Supreme Court giving no timeline to restoration of statehood . Spokespersons for the three claimed there was nothing new in what the Union government told the Supreme Court.

Responding to the queries raised by a five-judge Constitution bench earlier in the week, the Centre maintained that the UT status of J&K is “temporary”, but it cannot put forth a specific time frame on when J&K will become a state again in the wake of “extremely extraordinary” history of J&K.

“We are dealing with an extremely extraordinary situation here. It (J&K) will have to be infused with several things before it can become a state again. Those actions have been initiated...it is progressing towards the statehood, but I am unable to give an exact time frame,” solicitor general Tushar Mehta told the bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud.

As the court heard the matter of the abrogation of Article 370 and the restructuring of J&K into two Union territories, the law officer listed out investment schemes and other initiatives, besides stressing on reduction in the incidents of terror and stone-pelting to state that the central government can take measures to improve the situation in J&K only if it remains a UT for some time.