J&K: SC issues notice to Centre, allows Yechury to visit

New Delhi (IANS) The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Centre on multiple petitions related to abrogation of Article 370.

However, the Centre asked the court not to issue the notice, saying Article 370 had international and cross-border implications.

Representing the Centre, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal said it was a very sensitive matter and whatever happened in the country over it was raked up at the United Nations. The court asked the Attorney General if that meant the Supreme Court won't do its duty. 

The bench said it was aware of its duties and agreed to hear multiple petitions -- those challenging the Centre's decision to revoke Article 370 that accorded a special status to Jammu and Kashmir as well as those connected to the government-imposed clampdown and its consequences in the region.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that the petitions will be heard by a Constitution bench of five judges from the first week of October.

The Supreme Court also allowed Communist Party of India General Secretary Sitaram Yechury to go to Jammu and Kashmir and meet his colleagues. The apex court, however, restrained Yechury from going to any other place or getting involved in any other activity.

Yechury had said that his colleagues in Kashmir were not in good health and he wanted to meet them. "If a citizen wants to go any part of the country then he must be given access for that," said the court.