The Supreme Court sought assistance of the solicitor general on a PIL which alleged statutory panels including the Jammu and Kashmir Human Rights Commission are not functional in the union territory (UT) after the abrogation of Article 370.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha took note of the submissions of Pune-based lawyer Asim Suhas Sarode that various statutory panels like the State Information Commission, the human rights body and the consumer panel in the UT are not working.
The bench requested Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was present in the court, to go into the petition and apprise it of the present status. The law officer sought two weeks to revert.
“We will list after two weeks,” the bench said and asked Sarode to provide a copy of his petition to the law officer.
Sarode has made the DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training), National Human Rights Commission and the Law Commission of India parties to the PIL.
In August 2019, the Centre bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories and abrogated the provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution which accorded special status to the erstwhile state.
The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on August 5, 2019 and passed the same day. The Lok Sabha cleared it the next day.
