Explained | What are the cases about Article 370 and J&K special status, up for hearing at the Supreme Court? Premium

As a five-judge Constitution Bench is set to take up pleas about the abrogation of Article 370 on July 11, we examine what led to the petitions, what the contentions are, and when it has been mentioned for early listing before

The story so far: Nearly four years after the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court of India is set to hear a batch of petitions on July 11 challenging the Union government’s decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) which led to the bifurcation of the State in 2019.

A five-judge Constitution Bench, comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant, is slated to take up the matter on Tuesday, to issue procedural directions about the filing of documents and written submissions, the order of oral arguments and allocation of time.

Hearings on oral arguments are however set to begin only in August, Justice Gavai clarified on Wednesday in response to a query posed by senior advocate Kapil Sibal.

The five judges are the seniormost in the court and members of the Supreme Court Collegium. Justices Khanna, Gavai, and Kant are also in line to be CJIs in the future as per the seniority norm.

The Bench is also set to decide whether the lead petition by bureaucrat Shah Faesal can be withdrawn. Mr. Faesal, who resigned from the Indian administrative services (IAS) in 2018 and protested against the revocation of the special status of J&K, later rejoined the services and was recently appointed Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Culture. He later moved an application before the SC seeking withdrawal of his petition.

The petitions are being listed for hearing for the first time after March 2, 2020, when a five-judge bench presided by Justice N V Ramana refused to refer the matter to a larger bench. Of the previous bench which heard the matter, Justices NV Ramana and Subhash Reddy have retired. CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice Sanjiv Khanna are the new members of the latest bench.

Nearly 23 petitions have been filed in this case by lawyers, activists, politicians, and retired civil servants. These include advocates M L Sharma, Soayib Qureshi, Muzzafar Iqbal Khan, Rifat Ara Butt, and Shakir Shabir, National Conference Lok Sabha MPs Mohammad Akbar Lone and Hasnain Masoodi, CPI(M) leader Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami, activist Shehla Rashid, Kashmiri artist Inderjit Tickoo alias Inder Salim and veteran journalist Satish Jacob.