SC Gives Centre 8 Weeks to Respond on Jammu Kashmir Statehood Restoration Pleas

SRINAGAR: The Supreme Court on Thursday granted eight weeks’ time to the Solicitor General of India (SGI) to seek instructions from the government regarding pleas seeking the restoration of Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India, Justice BR Gavai, adjourned the matter to allow SGI Tushar Mehta to seek instructions from the government.

“List all these matters on 10.10.2025,” the CJI-headed bench said, in an order, a copy of which is in possession of news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO).

Appearing on behalf of the petitioners—Zahoor Ahmad Bhat and Khursheed Ahmad Malik—senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan referred to the assurance given by the Union of India to the five-judge Constitution Bench that heard the Article 370 case. “The Solicitor General for Union of India submitted that statehood will be restored to Jammu and Kashmir and that its status as Union Territory is temporary. The Solicitor General submitted that the status of Union Territory of Ladakh will not be affected by the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir,” Sankaranarayanan said, quoting excerpts from the Article 370 judgment.

He submitted that the Constitution Bench did not delve into the legality of the reorganisation, solely relying on the submissions made by the Union of India.

“Unanimously, based on those submissions, Your Lordships were not drawn into answering the question on which we had made submissions and all were prepared to argue,” he said.

He further pointed out that the assurance of restoring statehood was linked to the completion of elections.

“It has been 21 months since that judgment. There has been no movement towards it (statehood), partly because Your Lordships trusted the Government that they will implement statehood,” he argued. He urged the Court to constitute a bench and fix a timeline for it.

Appearing for the Union of India, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta questioned the maintainability of the miscellaneous application. “We assured two things: elections would be held, and thereafter, statehood. Elections have been held. Your Lordships are aware of the peculiar situation emerging from this part of our country. There are several considerations which go into the decision-making process. I do not know why this issue is being agitated. This particular state is not the right state to muddy the waters. Why are they doing this?” he said.

Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan emphasised that the legality of the assurance given by the Union of India is itself an important issue. “Legality of assurance is also an important issue. It is a very important issue of federalism,” he argued.

Chief Justice Gavai remarked that ground realities have to be taken into consideration. “You also have to take into consideration the ground realities. You cannot ignore what has happened in Pahalgam,” the CJI remarked. (KNO)