Article 370 Case Hearing : Live Updates From Supreme Court

CJI DY Chandrachud: We can conclude this tomorrow.

Sibal: Deeply obliged.

The bench rises for the day.

Sibal: That's a political decision. You want to abrogate 370, abrogate it. You want to integrate in India completely, say it. But that's a political act. That political act cannot be exercised by parliament, a legislative body.

Sibal: Because that legislative body is controlled by the Constitution. It can't go beyond that.

Sibal: The concept of a constituent assembly is a political exercise. That political authority, that political body can decide on the future of the state.

Sibal: So you can hold parliamentary elections but you will not hold state elections?

Sibal: Kindly note one thing- in May 2019, there were parliamentary elections in the State of J&K. Three months after this! This happened in 6th August and in May - parliamentary elections.

Sibal: So you move away from representative democracy, convert it into a Union Territory under your direct rule, and 5 years have passed! Everyday we hear there will soon be elections. There has to be a constitutional basis for doing this.

Justice Kant: You can carve out a Union Territory out of a state.

Sibal: You can carve out but you can't have all of Madhya Pradesh become a Union Territory one fine day. That is unthinkable! Under J&K there was a special provision for this.

Sibal: You can change the boundary of a state, you can bifurcate boundaries of a large state to make smaller states. But never in the history of this country has a state been converted into a Union Territory.

Senior Advocate Sibal: Article 3 says they can change the boundaries- they didn't change boundaries in this case but they changed it to Union Territory.

Senior Advocate Sibal continues reading from the list of dates.