J&K pleas: No time due to Ayodhya hearing, says CJI

New Delhi: All petitions related to Jammu and Kashmir, where massive security and communication restrictions are in place since August 5, when the government scrapped special status to the state under Article 370, were on Monday put off by a day by the Supreme Court, which said they would be taken up by a Constitution bench from Tuesday.

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said the bench did not have time because of the daily hearings on the Ayodhya case, and the Constitution bench on Kashmir would take up “all issues from tomorrow”, along with the validity of the government’s decision to end J&K’s special status.

“We do not have the time to hear so many matters. We have the Constitution bench case (Ayodhya dispute) to hear,” the CJI remarked.

MDMK leader Vaiko had approached the bench with a habeas corpus plea, stating that former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah be produced before the top court.

Mr Abdullah, who had been detained without any specific charges since August 5, when the restrictions were imposed, was charged on September 15 under the Public Safety Act, which allows detention without trial for upto two years.

Dismissing the plea by Mr Vaiko, the top court bench headed by CJI Gogoi in its order said that after the filing of the habeas corpus petition, Dr Abdullah has been detained under Public Safety Act and the same is open to challenge before an appropriate forum.

Though Mr Vaiko’s lawyer tried to explain that the PSA was imposed on the veteran leader on the eve of the apex court hearing on September 16, Chief Justice Gogoi remarked, “Nothing survives in this case”.

In the September 16 hearing, the court had issued notice to the government on the petition filed by Mr Vaiko which stated that there were conflicting claims about Mr Abdullah’s status and he was being illegally detained by the authorities.

CJI Gogoi on Monday also said that all other Kashmir related matters, including by CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kashmir Times managing editor Anuradha Bhasin would be heard by a three-judge bench headed by Justice N.V. Ramana.

Justice Ramana would also be heading the five-judge bench that will start hearing from Tuesday petitions questioning the constitutional validity of abrogating Article 370 as also Article 35A, and thereby removing the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir while the bifurcating the state into two Union Territories.

Article 370 and 35A were removed from the Constitution through a presidential order on August 4 and a Bill was passed by Parliament subsequently as a follow-up to create separate Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Besides Justice Ramana, five-judge constitution bench would include Justice Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice R. Subhash Reddy, Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice Surya Kant.

Several petitions have been filed challenging the Centre’s decision abrogating Article 370 provisions and bifurcating the state, including by the National Conference and the Sajjad Lone-led JK Peoples Conference. The petition on behalf of the NC was filed by Lok Sabha MPs Mohammad Akbar Lone and Justice (retd) Hasnain Masoodi. Mr Lone is a former Speaker of the J&K Assembly and Mr Masoodi a retired judge of the Jammu and Kashmir high court. In 2015, he had ruled that Article 370 was a permanent feature of the Constitution.

They have petitioned the court to examine whether the Union government can “unilaterally” unravel the unique federal scheme under the cover of President’s rule while undermining crucial elements of due process and rule of law. “This case, therefore, goes to the heart of Indian federalism, democratic processes and role of the apex court as the guardian of the federal structure,” the petition said.

Other pleas include the one filed by a group of former defence officers and bureaucrats. They have also sought directions declaring the presidential orders of August 5 “unconstitutional, void and inoperative”. The plea was filed by professor Radha Kumar, a former member of the home ministry’s group of interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir (2010-11), former IAS officer of J&K cadre Hindal Haidar Tyabji, Air Vice Marshal (retd) Kapil Kak, Major General (retd) Ashok Kumar Mehta, former Punjab-cadre IAS officer Amitabha Pande and former Kerala-cadre IAS officer Gopal Pillai, who retired as the Union home secretary in 2011.

A petition has also been filed by bureaucrat-turned-politician Shah Faesal, along with his party colleague and former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) leader Shehla Rashid.