New Delhi: The Supreme Court of Thursday said that the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir should be taken into consideration and incidents like Pahalgam cannot be ignored. A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran made these remarks while hearing a plea on the restoration of statehood in Jammu and Kashmir.
Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan represented the petitioners. "You can’t ignore what happened in Pahalgam," the top court told Sankaranarayanan as reported by The Bar & Bench.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, opposed the plea.
"We assured statehood after elections. There is a peculiar position of this part of our country. I don’t know why this issue this agitated now," Mehta told the apex court.
"This particular State is not the correct State to muddy the water. I will still seek instructions. 8 weeks may be given," he added.
Meanwhile, Sankaranarayanan said that in its 2023 judgment, while upholding the abrogation of Article 370, the top court had trusted the Central government that statehood will be granted to Jammu and Kashmir.
The top court adjourned the matter for eight weeks.
Notably, restoration of statehood was the key issue during the campaigning of the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls. The National Conference and Congress are putting pressure on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre to restore J&K's statehood.
On December 11, 2023, the top court unanimously upheld the revocation of Article 370, which accorded a special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. It had also ordered that assembly elections should be held in the union territory by September 2024 and its statehood be restored "at the earliest".
