Lagatar24 desk
New Delhi, Feb 13: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition challenging the delimitation of assembly, and parliamentary seats in Jammu and Kashmir.
The apex court said that the decision on delimitation won’t have a bearing on a separate batch of matters where abrogation of Article 370 is under challenge before a Constitution bench.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and A.S. Oka had found that the petitioners did not challenge the constitutional validity of a specific provision in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act which conferred the Delimitation Commission with the power to “carry out” the re-adjustment of constituencies in the Union Territory formed after the abrogation of Article 370 in the erstwhile State.
The bench said, “Nothing in this judgment shall be construed as giving imprimatur to the exercise of powers under Article 370. The scrapping of Article 370 giving special status to J&K and bifurcation of J&K into separate union territories of J&K and Ladakh are under challenge before the Supreme Court in separate proceedings.”
The petition filed by Srinagar residents, Haji Abdul Gani Khan and Dr. Mohammad Ayub Mattoo, was limited to a challenge of the notification issued by the Centre in March 2020 establishing the Jammu and Kashmir Delimitation Commission and a second one in March 2021 extending its term for the purpose of conducting delimitation only for Jammu and Kashmir.
The bench further said, “We have given the rider that the issue of the Reorganisation Act is pending before this Court and we have not said anything on the merits of the same. Otherwise, petition is dismissed.”
The zenith court delivered judgment in a petition filed by two Srinagar residents, Haji Abdul Gani Khan and Dr Mohammad Ayub Mattoo, challenging the increase in the number of seats from 107 to 114 in the UT. The petitioners had argued that it was ‘ultra vires’ Articles 81, 82, 170, 330 and 332 of the Indian Constitution and Section 63 of the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
In December, the Bhartiya Janata Party had told the Supreme Court that the delimitation exercise for the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir could not wait till 2026 as the idea was to give immediate democracy in the region. On May 5 last year, the three-member delimitation commission finalised the UT’s new electoral map, earmarking 43 seats to Hindu-majority Jammu and 47 to Muslim-majority Kashmir. Thus, the strength of J&K Assembly was raised from 83 to 90.
