Supreme Court asks Centre to file response on plea to restore statehood of Jammu & Kashmir

The apex court asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to seek instructions within eight weeks on his request to pleas filed by Zahoor Ahmad Bhat and Irfan Hafiz Lone.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to clarify its stand to a plea seeking restoration of statehood of Jammu and Kashmir while observing that it cannot ignore the ground situations including as to what happened on Pahalgam.

A bench of Chief Justice of India B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to seek instructions within eight weeks on his request to pleas filed by Zahoor Ahmad Bhat and Irfan Hafiz Lone.

Appearing for the Centre, Mehta submitted that there were several considerations which go into the decision making process.

He said, "We assured statehood after elections but there is a peculiar position of this part of the country".

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the applicants, submitted that the Centre had assured this court during the hearing on validity of dilution of Article 370 on restoration of statehood, it has been 21 months since then.

"You can't ignore what happened in Pahalgam. It's for Parliament and the Executive to take a decision," the bench said.

On April 22, 2025, a group of Pakistan-backed terrorists killed 26 tourists in Pahalgam after asking about their religion, resulting into armed offensive by 'Operation Sindoor' against terror networks in Pakistan.

The plea filed in October, 2024, claimed the non-restoration of the status of statehood of Jammu and Kashmir in a time-bound manner violated the idea of federalism which formed a part of the basic structure of the Constitution.

"It's of utmost importance that the status of statehood is restored so that the people can enjoy an autonomy in their individual identity and also play an important part in the overall development of the country," the plea said.

The Union government gave an assurance in this regard as recorded in the judgment of December 11, 2023, when the apex court rejected a challenge to validity of dilution of Article 370 of the Constitution. 

If such a direction is not passed at the earliest, it would lead to grave harm being caused to the federal structure of the country, the plea said.

Jammu and Kashmir was reorganised into the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, and the Union Territory of Ladakh on August 5, 2019, after the passage of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.