The Supreme Court on Thursday sought a response from the Centre on a petition seeking restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. While hearing the plea, the court observed that it’s crucial to consider ground realities in the region before making a decision.
"You also have to take into consideration the ground realities; you cannot ignore what has happened in Pahalgam,” said a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai and Justice K. Vinod Chandran.
The court listed the plea, filed by college teacher and activist Zahoor Ahmed Khan, for hearing after eight weeks.
VIDEO | Supreme Court seeks Centre's response in 8 weeks on plea seeking restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. Congress MLA Irfan Hafiz Lone says, "The people of Jammu and Kashmir have been struggling to get statehood and we had approached the Supreme Court with our… pic.twitter.com/iFYBE1IBWs
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 14, 2025
In a December 2023 order, the apex court had upheld the revocation of Article 370—which accorded a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir—even as it ordered that the statehood be restored "at the earliest".
In that order, the court had not addressed the issue of the constitutionality of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019, after the Solicitor General assured that the statehood would be restored.
“It has been 21 months since that judgment(Article 370 case), there has been no movement partly because, mylords fairly trusted the Union when they made this statement before the Court that they will implement the statehood," said senior lawyer Gopal Sankaranarayana, appearing for the petitioner, reported Live Law.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, meanwhile, argued that the present application is not maintainable and also noted that in the past, too, the court had imposed costs on pleas seeking restoration of statehood.
"Elections are held, my lords are aware of the peculiar position emerging from this part of the country; there are several considerations gone into decision-making," Mehta said.
#WATCH | Jammu | J&K BJP President Sat Sharma says, "The Prime Minister has stated from time to time that we will get statehood when the right circumstances and time arrive... In the span of 9 months, no work has been done by them (Jammu & Kashmir government)... Whatever decision… pic.twitter.com/kMjSY0iKDz
— ANI (@ANI) August 14, 2025
In his application, the petitioner alleged that the delay in the restoration of statehood would cause a serious reduction of democratically elected government in Jammu and Kashmir, “causing a grave violation of the idea of federalism which forms part of the basic structure of the Constitution of India”.
He said there was no impediment of security concerns, violence or any other disturbances which would hinder or prevent the restoration of the status of statehood.
