Article 370 Supreme Court Judgment Summary

1. Procedural Timeline (Condensed)

• Filing & Consolidation: Multiple petitions clubbed challenging C.O. 272, C.O. 273, and Reorganisation Act measures.
• Reference & Hearing: Constitutional bench assembled; hearings focused on Article 370's temporality and adaptation legitimacy.
• Judgment Pronouncement: Decision delivered (December 2023) upholding abrogation pathway.

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2. Key Issues Framed

1. Whether Article 370 retained permanent character post Constituent Assembly dissolution.
2. Validity of using Article 370(1) + Article 367 adaptation to reinterpret recommendation precondition of Article 370(3).
3. Extent of Parliament's competence during President's Rule for state-specific constitutional restructuring.
4. Constitutional validity of the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act vis‑à‑vis federal structure claims.

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3. Reasoning Sequence (Abstracted)

• Internal Sovereignty Rejected: The Court affirmed that Jammu & Kashmir did not retain any element of sovereignty after the Instrument of Accession, contradicting the "internal sovereignty" argument.
• Temporality Construction: Location of Article 370 in Part XXI + absence of express perpetuity construed as enabling cessation.
• No Constituent Assembly Veto: The Court held that the recommendation of the J&K Constituent Assembly was not a binding precondition for the President to declare Article 370 inoperative.
• Interpretive Adaptation: Use of Article 367 modification treated as a permissible definitional clarification, not an amendment bypass.
• Federalism Frame: Reorganisation assessed as integrative consolidation rather than dilution of basic structure.

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4. Core Holdings (Simplified)

• Article 370 determined not permanent; abrogation pathway valid.
• Presidential Power Affirmed: The President has the power to abrogate Article 370 unilaterally after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly.
• Article 367 adaptation permissible within interpretive ambit; did not constitute impermissible amendment.
• Parliament's exercise of powers during President's Rule not ultra vires for the measures challenged.
• Reorganisation Act upheld, with a directive to restore statehood "at the earliest" and conduct elections by September 30, 2024.

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5. Doctrinal Interfaces

• Basic Structure: Uniform constitutional application framed as parity enhancement.
• Separation of Powers: Interpretive scope boundaries affirmed without invalidating adaptation route.
• Asymmetric Federalism: Distinction drawn between procedural gateway removal (Article 370) and substantive cultural protections in other provisions.

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5. Scholarly Reception & Debates

• Constituent Power Paradox: Critics argue that bypassing the Constituent Assembly's recommendation undermines the federal compact, while proponents view it as a necessary correction to a "temporary" anomaly.
• Federalism Concerns: Some scholars view the conversion of a State into Union Territories as a precedent that could threaten the federal structure of other states.
• Integrationist View: The judgment is praised by many for cementing the constitutional integration of J&K, removing a "dual" system that allegedly hindered development and equality.

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6. Practical Implications

• Consolidation of uniform application reduces litigation leverage for restoration attempts via original pathway logic.
• Sets interpretive precedent for definitional adaptation enabling procedural completion where institutional referents lapse.
• Clarifies doctrinal differentiation likely invoked in future asymmetric federalism disputes.

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7. Open Questions

• Scope boundaries of interpretive adaptation before functional amendment threshold crossed.
• Whether future restoration initiatives (political/legislative) could reconfigure territorial or autonomy arrangements.
• Comparative implications for other special provisions or scheduled areas.

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8. Reference Note

Consult the full official judgment transcript for precise formulations, concurrences (if any), and detailed procedural citations. This synopsis omits verbatim passages to preserve clarity.

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