The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Centre’s decision to abrogate Article 370, which bestowed special status on the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The apex court also directed to conduct Assembly elections by September 30 next year.

Writing the judgement for himself and Justices Gavai and Surya Kant, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said Article 370 of the Constitution was a temporary provision and the president has the power to revoke it.

The top court also upheld the validity of the decision to carve out the union territory of Ladakh from Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019. The erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir does not have internal sovereignty different from other states of the country, the CJI said.

“… all provisions of the Indian Constitution can be applied to J-K,” he added. “We hold the exercise of presidential power to issue constitutional order abrogating Article 370 of Constitution as valid,” the CJI further said.

The CJI said that Jammu and Kashmir became an integral part of India and this is evident from Articles 1 and 370. “The Constituent Assembly of J&K was never intended to be permanent body,” he added.

The bench comprising CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices Gavai, Surya Kant, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, assembled on Monday morning to pronounce the three separate and concurring judgements. Justice Kaul and Justice Khanna wrote their judgments separately.

The top court had reserved its verdict in the matter on September 5 after a 16-day hearing on a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of the Article 370.