The Supreme Court of India (SC) will hear around 10 petitions related to abrogation of Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday.
Reportedly, most of these petitions challenge the Center's decision to dilute Article 370 and revoke Article 35A while others are connected with the imposition of curfew and its consequences in the region. The government, meanwhile, is likely to announce a package for Jammu and Kashmir after a Cabinet meeting today morning, days before the bifurcation of J&K into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh takes effect from August 31.
The pleas before the Supreme Court bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi include a habeas corpus petition by Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury, in which he has challenged thedetention of Kashmir politician and party general secretary Mohammed YousufTarigami. Another plea is of Tehseen Poonawalla, a social activist, who hasraised the issue of lockdown in the region as amounting to suspension ofArticle 19 (freedom of speech) and 21 (personal liberty) of the Constitution.
The plea said, "The actions taken by Union of Indiapertains to gross abuse of its powers under law, whereby the people of J&Kare suffering on account of unwarranted imposition of undeclared curfew andfurther emergency-like restrictions are being imposed under the garb of Section144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973."
Shah Faesal, an independent politician and former bureaucratfrom Jammu and Kashmir in a joint petition with activist Shehla Rashid haschallenged the Centre's move to scrap Article 370. The bench will also hearKashmiri artist Inder Salim alias Inder Ji Tickoo and a veteran journalistSatish Jacob's joint plea challenging recent Presidential orders on Article 370and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories.
Another plea is of a law graduate in Delhi, Mohammad AleemSyed, seeking information on the whereabouts of his family in Kashmir.
The government's move to announce a package for JammuKashmir comes after Tuesday's inter-ministerial meeting in the Home Ministryover the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019 that discussedimplementation of Central schemes in the state and the steps taken so far forreturn to normalcy in Kashmir Valley.
The cabinet meeting is likely to spell out moves on the promise of jobs, investment and the implementation of welfare schemes.
It may be stated that Tuesday's Home Ministry meeting, chaired by newly-appointed Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, saw the attendance of more than 15 secretaries of Central government departments, including finance, agriculture, rural development, industries. Bhalla assessed the road map for implementation of Central schemes in the two newly-created Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir with an Assembly and Ladakh without one – before they come into existence on October 31. The Central government will also assist the Jammu and Kashmir administration in implementing the 85 development schemes announced by Governor Satya Pal Malik.
