The 5 August 2019 Changes

On 5 August 2019, the Government of India rendered Art 370 inoperative and re-organised the State. It happened in four steps:

1. Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019 (C.O. 272), issued by the President on 5 August 2019 with the Governor's concurrence (J&K was then under President's Rule, so the Governor's consent was treated as the State government's). It applied all provisions of the Constitution to J&K and amended Art 367 so that "Constituent Assembly" in Art 370(3) was read as "Legislative Assembly".
2. The Rajya Sabha passed the recommendation (a statutory resolution) to the President to declare Art 370(3) inoperative, followed by the Lok Sabha (6 August).
3. C.O. 273 (6 August 2019): the President declared that, with effect from 6 August 2019, all clauses of Art 370 cease to operate except clause 1, which continued to apply the Constitution to J&K.
4. Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019: passed by both Houses on 5 and 6 August 2019, with the Presidential assent on 9 August. It came into force on 31 October 2019, the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel.

Result

• J&K became a Union Territory with a Legislature (the first of its kind after Puducherry and Delhi).
• Ladakh became a separate Union Territory without a Legislature.
• Art 35A ceased to exist. Hundreds of Central laws were applied to J&K.
• Reservation for SC/ST/OBC and the Right to Education now apply in J&K.

Supreme Court verdict (11 December 2023)

In In Re: Article 370 of the Constitution, a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by CJI D.Y. Chandrachud unanimously upheld the abrogation:

• Art 370 was a temporary provision.
• J&K did not retain sovereignty after joining India. The Instrument of Accession and the Maharaja's Proclamation of 1948 made the whole State part of India.
• The President could issue C.O. 272 and C.O. 273. The use of Art 370(1)(d) was valid.
• The Court did not decide on the validity of the Reorganisation of the State into two UTs in detail, but it noted that the Solicitor General had said statehood will be restored. It directed the Election Commission to hold Assembly elections by 30 September 2024 and asked for statehood to be restored "as soon as possible".
• It upheld Ladakh as a UT. It left the question of whether Parliament can turn a State into a UT open for a later case.
• It recommended a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to look into human rights violations since the 1980s.