The Supreme Court on Tuesday decided to hear the petitions, challenging the abrogation of Article 370 that granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, on a day-to-day basis from August 2.

“The hearing of the petitions before the Constitution Bench shall commence on August 2, 10:30 am, and then proceed on a day-to-day basis, barring miscellaneous days, that is Monday and Friday,” Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud said.

The other members of the bench are Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai and Surya Kant.

Also Read: Supreme Court sets up Constitution bench to hear pleas against abrogation of Article 370

The bench recorded in its order that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta has assured that the affidavit filed by the Centre on Monday in the matter has “no bearing on the constitutional issues raised in petitions”.

“The Solicitor General has informed that though the Union of India has filed an additional affidavit, setting out the Union government’s perspective in regard to the post-notification developments, the contents of the affidavit have no bearing on constitutional issues raised in petitions and thus are not to be relied upon for that purpose,” the order said.

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During the proceedings today, senior advocate Raju Ramachandran said he was appearing for seven petitioners, and two – IAS officer Shah Faesal and former student activist Shehla Rashid – now want their names to be deleted. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said Faesal is an IAS officer and hence may not want to pursue the matter. The CJI allowed the deletions, the Live Law reported.

The top court also modified the cause title of the case as – In Re Article 370 of the Constitution. Earlier it was titled Shah Faesal and Ors Vs Union of India and Ors.

Furthermore, the SC has directed the parties to submit written submissions on or before July 27.

Also Read: Looking back on Article 370 abrogation

Article 370 was scrapped on August 5, 2019, through a series of legislative and executive decisions after which the Parliament passed the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act to bifurcate the erstwhile state into two Union Territories – J&K and Ladakh.

Under Article 370, special rights and privileges were granted to the people of Jammu and Kashmir from 1954 to 2019 in accordance with the Instrument of Accession.