New Delhi, July 3: A constitution bench is set to hear the batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 on July 11, 2023. The bench taking up the matter comprises CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice SK Kaul, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice BR Gavai, and Justice Surya Kant. The petitions are being listed for the first time after March 2, 2020.
The hearings on the Article 370 cases commenced before the 5-judge bench in December 2019, almost 4 months after the notifications issued by the Centre in August 2019. A preliminary issue arose in the case as to whether a reference to 7-judge bench was necessary in light of alleged divergence in the opinions expressed by two coordinate benches of the Supreme Court in the cases of Prem Nath Kaul and Sampath Prakash. By a judgment dated March 2, 2020, the Constitution Bench held that there was no need to refer the matter to a larger Bench.
However, the matter was not listed again up until now. In April 2022, the then CJI NV Ramana had not expressed anything definite when the matter was sought to be listed.
In September 2022, the then CJI UU Lalit had agreed to list the petitions. After his tenure got over, the matter was again mentioned on two separate occasions before the present CJI DY Chandrachud, who had expressed his inclination on listing the matter.
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.
