Article 370 was scrapped and Jammu and Kashmir split in August 2019 (File)
Hours before the Supreme Court's Article 370 Judgment backing the Centre's move to scrap Jammu and Kashmir's special status, senior lawyer Kapil Sibal posted that "some battles were fought to be lost".
Kapil Sibal was the counsel for petitioners who had challenged the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 of the Constitution, in August 2019.
"Some battles are fought to be lost. For history must record the uncomfortable facts for generations to know. The right and wrong of institutional actions will be debated for years to come," Kapil Sibal posted on X - formerly known as Twitter.
In a historic judgment, the Supreme Court not only upheld the Centre's order to abrogate Article 370, but also said Jammu and Kashmir's statehood should be restored at the earliest and elections must be held by September 30 next year.
"The President had the power to issue a notification declaring that Article 370(3) ceases to operate without the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly. The continuous exercise of power under Article 370(1) by the President indicates that the gradual process of constitutional integration was ongoing," Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said while pronouncing the verdict.
A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Chandrachud also upheld the validity of the decision to carve out the union territory of Ladakh.
The petitioners opposing the repeal of Article 370 had been insisting that the provision could not have been scrapped, as the term of the Jammu and Kashmir Constituent Assembly, whose concurrence was required before taking such a step, ended in 1957, after it had drafted the erstwhile state's Constitution.
With the constituent assembly having become extinct, Article 370 acquired a permanent status, they had contended.
The Centre had argued that its decisions were taken within the legal framework. It had also contended that the mainstreaming of Jammu and Kashmir has reduced terrorism and provided a level playing field.
Over the last four years, it has helped move the erstwhile state on the fast-track to development, the government had argued.
Jammu and Kashmir was split into two Union Territories after the abrogation of Article 370, over a year after the PDP-BJP alliance government had collapsed.