NEW DELHI, Sept 28 - The Supreme Court on Saturday set up a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice NV Ramana which will commence hearing from October 1 on a batch of pleas mounting legal challenges to the Centre�s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
The bench also comprises justices SK Kaul, R Subhash Reddy, BR Gavai and Suryakant. The hearing by the Constitution bench will commence from October 1, an official source said.
The five-judge bench will examine the constitutional validity of the scrapping of the Article�s provisions and the subsequent presidential orders on it, the source added.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi on August 28 had referred the matter to a five-judge Constitution bench.
Several petitions have been filed challenging the Centre�s decision abrogating Article 370 provisions and bifurcating the state into Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. The UTs will come into being on October 31.
Petitions have also been filed by the National Conference, the Sajjad Lone-led JK Peoples Conference and several other individuals, including the first plea filed by advocate ML Sharma.
The petition on behalf of the NC was filed by Lok Sabha MPs Mohammad Akbar Lone and Justice (retd) Hasnain Masoodi. Lone is a former Speaker of the J&K Assembly and Masoodi a retired judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. In 2015, he had ruled that Article 370 was a permanent feature of the Constitution.
Other pleas include the one filed by a group of former defence officers and bureaucrats. They have also sought directions declaring the presidential orders of August 5 �unconstitutional, void and inoperative�.
The plea was filed by Prof Radha Kumar, a former member of the Home Ministry�s Group of Interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir (2010-11), former IAS officer of J&K cadre Hindal Haidar Tyabji, Air Vice Marshal (retd) Kapil Kak, Major General (retd) Ashok Kumar Mehta, former Punjab-cadre IAS officer Amitabha Pande and former Kerala-cadre IAS officer Gopal Pillai, who retired as the Union Home Secretary in 2011.
A petition has also been filed by bureaucrat-turned-politician Shah Faesal, along with his party colleague and former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) leader Shehla Rashid.
There are other petitions challenging the Centre�s decision on Article 370. The apex court on August 28 had listed the petitions connected with Article 370 and issues arising after its abrogation. � PTI
