New Delhi: On Wednesday (August 2), a 5-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud at the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a series of petitions challenging the 2019 Presidential Order that revoked the special status granted to the former state of Jammu and Kashmir and divided it into two Union Territories.

The Constitution Bench, comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, and Surya Kant, will consecutively address the matter starting from August 2, except for Mondays and Fridays.

CJI Chandrachud and Justice Khanna are new additions to the current 5-judge bench, as CJI N V Ramana and Justice Subhash Reddy, who were part of the previous bench, have retired.

The cluster of petitions underwent a recent hearing on July 11 to complete the necessary pre-hearing formalities, which had been pending since March 2, 2020, when another Constitution Bench ruled against the necessity of referring the matter to a seven-judge bench.

In a fresh affidavit submitted to the top court, the Central government has defended the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status, arguing that diluting Article 370 has brought unprecedented development, progress, security, and stability to the region.

The affidavit highlights that over the past three years, schools, colleges, universities, hospitals, and other public institutions have been functioning without any strikes or disturbances.

The Union Home Ministry emphasizes that street violence, engineered and orchestrated by terrorists and secessionist networks, has now become a thing of the past, and the "organized stone pelting incidences connected with terrorism-separatist agenda," which were as high as 1767 in 2018, have reduced to zero in 2023.

The Centre stresses that it has adopted a policy of zero tolerance against terrorism, and after constitutional changes, the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir has significantly improved.

The reply document also states that since 2019, the entire region has experienced an unprecedented era of peace, progress, and prosperity, and "life has returned to normalcy in the region after over three decades of turmoil."

Additionally, intervention applications have been filed by Kashmiri Pandits in support of the Centre's decision to strip the former state of Jammu and Kashmir of its special status.

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