Supreme Court agrees to hear petitions challenging delimitation exercise in Jammu and Kashmir

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear petitions challenging the delimitation exercise in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir after the summer vacation. The exercise is scheduled to be completed by May.

Since the issue is inextricably linked with the Centre's move to dilute the special status of the erstwhile state under Article 370 of the Constitution, the two issues are likely to come up together for consideration.

The issue of delimitation cannot be examined without first deciding whether the decision to do away with the special status of the state was legal or not. The state's special status also allowed it to have a separate constitution and a flag. These issues will have to be decided by five-judge Constitution benches.


A bench led by Chief Justice of India NV Ramana said that it would have to examine issues such as availability of such benches before the issue can be assigned to one.