Time may be running out for a petition filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Centre’s decision to appoint a Delimitation Commission headed by former apex court judge, Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, to redraw Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the former State.
The petition filed by two Jammu and Kashmir residents, Haji Abdul Gani Khan and Mohammad Ayub Mattoo, wants the Supreme Court to also examine why Jammu and Kashmir has been “singled out” for delimitation when Article 170 of the Constitution says that such an exercise for the entire country was due only in the year 2026.
The case was filed on March 28 this year. On April 13, the petitioners’ lawyers, senior advocate Ravi Shankar Jandhyala and advocate Sriram Parakkat, made an oral mentioning in court for an early listing of the case. The court had directed its Registry to list the case before an appropriate Bench.
