Background

What was the Constitution position?

• Article 370 of the Constitution, which provided autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir, was drafted in 1947 by Sheikh Abdullah, then the state’s Prime Minister, and accepted by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. 
• Classified only as a temporary provision, it was included in the Indian Constitution in October 1949.

Special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370

• Article 370 of the Constitution gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir in the Indian Union and restricted the Centre’s legislative powers with respect to the state. 
• It gave the state legislature to make its own laws in all matters except for finance, defence, foreign affairs and communications.

Abrogation of Article 370

• In August 2019, the Government of India revoked Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which granted special status and autonomy to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. 

• With the abrogation of Article 370, the Centre had also reorganised the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories — Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. 
• Ladakh was carved out as a Union Territory without a legislature, while Jammu and Kashmir had a legislative body. 
• Both the UTs are being administered by the Centre-appointed lieutenant governors since no assembly elections have taken place in Jammu and Kashmir since August 2019.

Why in News?

• A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the power of the President to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution, which in August 2019 led to the reorganisation of the State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) into two Union Territories and denuded it of its special privileges. 
• It reasoned that Article 370 was only a ‘temporary provision’ to ease the accession of the then princely State to the Union at a time of internal strife and war. 

Highlights of the Judgment

• The apex court pointed out that J&K had divested itself of any element of sovereignty after the execution of the Instrument of Accession to the Union in October 1947. 
• The judgment noted that Article 370 was merely a ‘feature of asymmetric federalism’ similar to other provisions in the Constitution such as Articles 371A to 371J — examples of special arrangements for different States. 
• The court ordered the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address violations of human rights perpetrated in J&K both by state and non-state actors since the 1980s. 
• Considering the sensitivities of the issues involved, the court said that it was up to the government to decide how the Commission must be set up. 
• The court also set a deadline of September 30, 2024, for the assembly elections to be held.

Can a State be converted into a Union Territory? 

• Due to the assurance given by the Union government that J&K’s statehood would be restored soon, the court did not go into the issue of whether the conversion of J&K into a Union Territory was valid. 
• It, however, upheld the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 to the extent that it carved out the Union Territory of Ladakh out of the State of J&K.