Hear Only J&K Issues After August 4, Not Historical Events

The government has urged the Supreme Court to ensure that any legal challenge to its decision to scrap special status to Jammu & Kashmir is restricted to post August 4, 2019 events and not historical events dating back to 1948 when the state acceded to India. The erstwhile state was an integral part of India and no one could challenge its accession to the union or demand a plebiscite or referendum now or justify “secessionism” there, Attorney General K K Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the top court on Thursday.

A five-judge bench led by Justice N V Ramana, hearing a batch of petitions challenging the virtual abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave special status to Jammu & Kashmir, and bifurcation of the state into two union territories, reserved its judgement on whether the issue should be placed before seven judges instead of five for a judicial adjudication on the legality of the government’s two notifications issued on August 5 and 6. “To say that integration of the state has not taken place is wrong,” Venugopal contended. “Arguments that plebiscite has not taken place (and) accession agreement hasn’t been signed cannot be put forward.