‘No Time’ Due to Ayodhya Hearing, CJI Gogoi Refers Kashmir Matters

The five-judge Constitution Bench is headed by Justice NV Ramana and will hear the case from 1st week of October.

CJI Ranjan Gogoi.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

The Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, on Monday, 30 September, referred a bunch of petitions relating to the validity of the Centre's move to revoke Article 370 to another Constitution Bench saying that it has “no time” due to the regular hearing in the Ayodhya dispute case.

Chief Justice Gogoi said that the Bench did not have the time to hear so many matters as, at present, a Constitution Bench headed by him is hearing the case related to the Ayodhya dispute.

Thereafter, the Bench headed by Chief Justice Gogoi referred the pleas to a new Constitution Bench of Justices NV Ramana, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Subhash Reddy, BR Gavai and Surya Kant.

This includes petitions filed by National Conference MPs Mohd Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi, as well as the one filed by Shah Faesal, Shehla Rashid and others.

The cases are scheduled to be heard at 10:30 am on Tuesday, 1 October.

The 10 petitions listed before the five-judge Bench challenge the government’s move to abrogate Article 370, on the basis that the two presidential orders – and in some cases, the Proclamation of President’s Rule in Jammu and Kashmir back in December 2018 – were unconstitutional.

They have also challenged the bifurcation of J&K into two Union Territories under the J&K Reorganisation Act 2019, on the basis that this violates the federal structure of the Constitution and that this was done without following the appropriate procedure.

A key aspect of both these arguments is the fact that the Governor of J&K, rather than the elected representatives of the people, was consulted for things which the Government of J&K was supposed to give its views or consent.

Despite notice being issued in these petitions, the Central Government is yet to file its reply to any of them.

The other cases before CJI Gogoi on communications blackout in Kashmir (filed by Kashmir Times editor Anuradha Bhasin), restrictions on movement (by Tehseen Poonawalla) and detention of children (by cold rights activist Enakshi Ganguly), have been transferred to a three-judge Bench headed by Justice Ramana, also listed for Tuesday. 

Justice Ramana's three-judge Bench will also be taking up some habeas corpus petitions, including that of business leader Mubeen Shah, as well as the petitions filed by Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sitaram Yechury.

These matters will be taken up after the Constitution Bench finishes its hearings on the 10 petitions on the PM Modi-led government’s actions in Kashmir.

(With inputs from IANS)