Srinagar, Aug 29 :
The Centre on Tuesday informed the the Supreme Court that Ladakh will continue to remain as Union Territory, however, he will make a positive statement regarding Jammu and Kashmir a day after tomorrow.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, who is representing the Centre made the comments during the hearing of batch of pleas challenging the abrogation of Article 370 in the Supreme Court.
As per details available with Kashmir News Service (KNS), SG Mehta was asked by the Supreme Court to take instructions from the highest level regarding timeframe to make J&K a State again, to which SG Mehta replied: “I have taken instructions. The instructions are that UT is not a permanent feature. But I will make a positive statement day after tomorrow. Ladakh will remain UT.”
He also said that they will also meet personally and make a statement. “I must tell your lords that so far as Ladakh is concerned – local body elections took place in 2020 and so far as Ladakh is concerned, it consists of two units- Leh and Kargil,” he added.
He also said that election to Ladakh autonomous hill development council Leh is held in October 2023 for 26 seats and for Kargil, it will be held on 10 September 2023, so ladakh elections will be over.
Continuing his argument, SG Mehta read out the statement of Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a debate in the Lok Sabha before passing of 2019 bill.
“As far as the question for UT is concerned, as soon as the situation returns to normalcy, at the right time, the current government does not mind conferring the status of a State (on J&K).”
He added that “If you see holistically Articles 3 and 4, and I’m saying this academically- there is nothing if we read as a common scheme of reorganisation- that one state for a good reason, can be converted into a UT.” (KNS)