SC to hear plea seeking restoration of statehood to Jammu Kashmir on Aug 8

August 5, 2025 by News Desk

The Supreme Court of India is scheduled to hear on August 8 a fresh application seeking directions to the Union Government for the restoration of Jammu Kashmir’s statehood, more than six years after the region was stripped of its special status and reorganised into a Union Territory.

The application has been moved in the disposed-off case titled In Re: Article 370 of the Constitution, in which the Supreme Court, in December 2023, upheld the abrogation of Article 370 and the constitutional validity of the Jammu Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

The Act, enacted on August 5, 2019, bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union Territories, Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh, marking a significant shift in the region’s political status and federal relationship with the Union.

The latest plea was mentioned before Chief Justice of India BR Gavai by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who sought assurance that the matter would remain listed on August 8. The CJI responded that the case would not be dropped from the cause list.

Filed as a Miscellaneous Application, the plea has been submitted by Zahoor Ahmad Bhat, a college teacher, and Khurshaid Ahmad Malik, a civil society activist. The petitioners pointed out that although the Solicitor General had assured the court during hearings last year that statehood would be restored, no visible steps have been taken in the eleven months since the verdict.

They argued that the continued denial of statehood undermines the basic structure of the Constitution, particularly the principle of federalism, and highlighted that the peaceful conduct of elections in Jammu Kashmir indicates no law-and-order obstacle to reversing the Union Territory status.

In its December 2023 judgment, the Supreme Court had stated that the restoration of statehood “shall take place at the earliest and as soon as possible,” although it refrained from prescribing a definitive timeline.