'What is the right time': NC asks Centre to restore statehood to J-K
August 5, 2026 marked seven years since Article 370 of the Constitution, which granted Jammu and Kashmir special autonomous status, was abrogated and the erstwhile State was reorganised into two Union Territories.
On the anniversary, elected representatives from Jammu and Kashmir renewed calls for the Union Government to restore full statehood to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, noting that assurances of eventual statehood restoration, made at the time of the 2019 reorganisation and during Supreme Court proceedings, remain unfulfilled.
Jammu and Kashmir has held Assembly elections and has an elected Legislative Assembly and Chief Minister since 2024, but continues to function as a Union Territory with a Lieutenant Governor retaining control over key subjects such as police and public order — a hybrid arrangement distinct from full statehood.
Ladakh, the second Union Territory carved out in 2019, does not have a legislative assembly and is administered directly by the Union Government.
The demand for statehood restoration sits within the broader constitutional question of how and when a Union Territory can be converted back into a full State, a process governed by Article 3 and requiring a new Act of Parliament.
Article 370 Abrogation (2019) and the J&K Reorganisation Act
Article 370 of the Constitution granted Jammu and Kashmir a special status, allowing it a separate constitution and autonomy over all matters except defence, foreign affairs, finance and communications, with Indian Parliament's laws applying to the State only with the concurrence of its government. On August 5, 2019, the Union Government issued Constitutional Order 272 (amending Article 367 to reinterpret "Constituent Assembly" as "Legislative Assembly" for the purposes of Article 370(3)) and Constitutional Order 273, effectively abrogating Article 370. Parliament simultaneously passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, bifurcating the State into two Union Territories: Jammu and Kashmir (with a legislature) and Ladakh (without a legislature), effective October 31, 2019.
Key Details
- Article 370(3) permitted the President to declare the Article inoperative on the recommendation of the State's Constituent Assembly — which had, however, dissolved in 1957, a key point of legal contention.
- Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019: enacted under Article 3 of the Constitution, which empowers Parliament to form new States, alter boundaries, or convert a State into one or more Union Territories.
- The reorganisation reduced J&K from full statehood to Union Territory status — the reverse of the more common Article 3 use (UT to State, as with Goa in 1987).
The anniversary demand for statehood restoration is a direct call to reverse the 2019 downgrade using the same constitutional instrument, Article 3, that effected it — Parliament would need to pass a fresh law converting the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir back into a State.
In Re: Article 370 of the Constitution (Supreme Court, 2023) and the Statehood Assurance
A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, in its December 11, 2023 judgment (In Re: Article 370 of the Constitution), unanimously upheld the abrogation of Article 370 and the constitutional validity of the process used, holding that the President's power under Article 370(3) survived the dissolution of the State's Constituent Assembly. The Court did not rule on the constitutionality of reducing Jammu and Kashmir to Union Territory status, recording instead the Union Government's assurance (through the Solicitor General) that statehood would be restored, and directed that Assembly elections be held by September 30, 2024.
Key Details
- Bench: Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices S.K. Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, B.R. Gavai and Surya Kant.
- The Court treated the Union Territory status of J&K as a "temporary" arrangement based on the statehood assurance, without adjudicating its constitutionality on merits.
- Assembly elections were duly held in 2024, and a Legislative Assembly and Chief Minister were sworn in, but Union Territory status (and the associated distribution of powers between the Lieutenant Governor and the elected government) continues.
The "right time" question posed on the anniversary refers directly back to this judicially-recorded assurance of statehood restoration, tying a political demand to an unresolved constitutional commitment — precisely the kind of static-current affairs bridge UPSC uses, since students must know both the Article 3 procedure and the Supreme Court's 2023 holding to fully assess the issue.
- Article 370 abrogated: August 5, 2019, via Constitutional Orders 272 and 273.
- Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019: enacted under Article 3; created two Union Territories — J&K (with legislature) and Ladakh (without legislature) — effective October 31, 2019.
- In Re: Article 370 of the Constitution, (2023) — Supreme Court Constitution Bench judgment delivered December 11, 2023, upholding the abrogation.
- Supreme Court directed Assembly elections in J&K be completed by September 30, 2024; elections held and an elected government formed in 2024.
- Article 3 of the Constitution: empowers Parliament, by simple majority Bill (with the President's prior recommendation and reference to the affected State/UT legislature for its views), to form new States, alter areas/boundaries/names of States, or convert a State into Union Territories and vice versa.
- August 5, 2026 marks the seventh anniversary of the Article 370 abrogation.