Five prominent individuals, all petitioners in the Article 370 case, have penned an open letter to Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai, urging the formation of a Supreme Court bench to address the contentious issue of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood. The group is advocating for an expedited hearing on the petitions challenging the constitutionality of the statehood removal, a firm deadline for its restoration, and guarantees against any future government unilaterally revoking statehood from any state.

The signatories of the letter include Radhakumar, former Group of Interlocutors for Jammu and Kashmir, G.K. Pillai, former Home Secretary, Major General Ashok K. Mehta (retired), Air Vice-Marshal Kapil Kak (retired), and Amitabha Pande, former Secretary of the Inter-State Council of India. These individuals have voiced their apprehension that the government might exploit the recent attack in Pahalgam as a justification for further delaying the restoration of statehood, despite repeated assurances from Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Parliament.

In their appeal to CJI Gavai, the petitioners are requesting the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognizance of the matter and establish a bench to rule on the legality of stripping Jammu and Kashmir of its statehood. They plan to garner support from Members of Parliament across party lines during the upcoming Monsoon Session to raise the issue in the House.

The petitioners have also countered the argument that the Pahalgam attack justifies delaying the restoration of statehood. They argue that the high voter turnout and peaceful conduct of the October 2024 elections, which resulted in an absolute majority for the National Conference, demonstrate a clear public mandate for an elected government. They have also noted that initial police claims of Kashmiri involvement in the Pahalgam attack have been found to be unfounded by NIA investigations.

The letter also criticizes the actions of the current administration, such as demolishing houses of families of terrorists and sidelining elected representatives, which they say has fueled anger and resentment on the ground.

The signatories emphasized that the downgrading of a full-fledged state to a Union Territory is unprecedented in India's history and violates the fundamental structure of the Constitution, which upholds India's federal nature. They also recalled that the Supreme Court had previously refrained from ruling on the constitutionality of the action based on the government's promise to restore statehood. They reminded that then Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud had urged the government to restore statehood at the earliest, and Justice Sanjay Khanna had separately held it unconstitutional. They suggest the repeated assurances from the Union Government suggest a tacit recognition that the removal of statehood is unconstitutional.