Supreme Court Asks Centre For Timeframe To Make J&K A State Again

In 2019 the government - amid a furious pushback from political activists and opposition leaders - scrapped Article 370 and split Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories - J&K and Ladakh.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the government for a "timeframe" to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and stressed the importance of the restoration of democracy. The court - hearing several petitions challenging the scrapping of Article 370, which gave J&K its special status - also asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, "Can you convert a State into a UT? Can a UT be carved out of a State?" To this Mr Mehta replied in the affirmative and pointed to Assam, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh as examples.

In 2019 the government - amid a furious pushback from political activists and opposition leaders - scrapped Article 370 and split Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories - J&K and Ladakh. The government had assured its critics that statehood would restored "once situation returns to normal".

"A statement (on restoration of statehood for J&K) has been made on the floor of Parliament. Efforts are being made... once situation returns to normal," Mr Mehta told the court today.