No error: Supreme Court rejects pleas to review its Article 370 order

In a landmark 2023 verdict, the top court in a 5-0 unanimous ruling upheld the 2019 move by the Union government to abrogate Article 370. (Express file photo by Praveen Khanna)

The Supreme Court has dismissed petitions seeking review of its December 2023 judgment upholding the government’s August 2019 decision to end the special status of the then State of Jammu and Kashmir by abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution.

“Having perused the review petitions, there is no error apparent on the face of the record. No case for review under Order XLVII Rule 1 of the Supreme Court Rules 2013. The review petitions are, therefore, dismissed,” a five-judge bench, presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, said.

The bench also comprised Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, Surya Kant and A S Bopanna. The petitions were dismissed on May 1 and the copy of the order was uploaded Tuesday on the court’s official webpage.

In its landmark December 11, 2023 ruling, a Constitution Bench had unanimously put its stamp of approval on the Modi government’s August 2019 decision to end J&K’s special status by abrogating Article 370.

The then five-judge bench comprised CJI Chandrachud and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai and Surya Kant.

Justice Kaul retired on December 25, 2023 following which a reconstituted bench that included Justice Bopanna decided the review petitions.

Last December, the bench, in three separate but concurring judgments, ordered restoration of statehood “at the earliest”, set a September 30, 2024 deadline for holding Assembly elections in the Union Territory of J&K and also upheld the validity of the Centre’s decision to carve out the Union Territory of Ladakh from the erstwhile state.

The bench upheld the Constitutional validity of two Presidential Orders – The Constitution (Application To Jammu and Kashmir) Order (CO) 272 and 273 dated August 5 and 6, 2019 – by which the entire Constitution of India was made applicable to J&K, declaring all provisions of Article 370 inoperative.

It held that the princely state of J&K “did not retain an element of sovereignty when” it joined the Union of India.

On the reorganisation of the state into the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh in 2019, the bench rejected the argument that the Bill for this under Article 3 could have been introduced only with the consent of the state legislature, saying it had, in a previous case, held that such recommendation of the state legislature is only recommendatory and not binding on Parliament.