Article 370 Verdict: The Supreme Court said on Friday that it has held that Article 370 is a temporary provision. While reading out the judgement on a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370, the apex court held that Article 370 was an interim arrangement due to war conditions in the state. Textual reading also indicates that Article 370 is a temporary provision.
While upholding the government's decision on Article 370, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court also directed that statehood to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir be restored at the earliest and said steps should be taken to conduct elections to the Assembly in the Union Territory by September 30 next year.
The top court also upheld the validity of the decision to carve out the union territory of Ladakh from Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019. The erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir does not have internal sovereignty different from other states of the country, he said. "... all provisions of the Indian Constitution can be applied to J-K," the CJI said. "We hold the exercise of presidential power to issue constitutional order abrogating Article 370 of Constitution as valid," the CJI said.
Jammu and Kashmir became an integral part of India and this is evident from Articles 1 and 370, he said while pronouncing the judgment. “The Constituent Assembly of J&K was never intended to be permanent body,” the CJI stated.
The bench comprising CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices Gavai, Surya Kant, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, assembled at 10.56 am to pronounce the three separate and concurring judgements Justices Kaul and Khanna wrote their judgments separately.
The apex court reserved its verdict in the matter on September 5 after a 16-day hearing on a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of the provisions of Article 370.