A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court calling for early hearing of a series of pleas against the Centre’s decision to rescind Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and split the region, reported PTI on Tuesday. The plea said that people in the region were suffering as the continued internet shutdown and curbs were continuously damaging the economy.

The plea was filed by Shakir Shabir, who had challenged the revocation of Article 370 in the Supreme Court last year. The application said that several laws were passed since August 5, 2019, and important changes were being made by the government in Jammu and Kashmir.

“That it is further submitted that while the purported intent of the impugned order has continually been portrayed to have been for the betterment of the populace of the erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir, the truth remains that it is the very people who are presently suffering in the midst,” the petition.

The applicant asked for urgent hearing of the challenge to scrap Article 370 highlighting that courts are now functioning at full capacity virtually, reported Bar and Bench.

“...by the mere passage of time, such illegal and unconstitutional actions risk to render the captioned petition infructuous while rendering permanency to the impugned order(s),” the court said, according to Live Law.

In March, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court declined to ask a larger bench to hear a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Centre’s decision to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.