The Indian Supreme Court has formed a five-member bench to hear petitions against the abrogation of occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, Indian media outlets reported on Monday.

“Constitution bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice BR Gavai, and Justice Surya Kant will take up following matters on July 11, 2023 (Tuesday) at 10:30am,” said the notification.

In 2019, the ruling government of India Bharatiya Janata Party revoked occupied Kashmir’s special status by repealing Article 370 of the Indian Constitution. The move allowed people from the rest of the country to have the right to acquire property in occupied Kashmir and settle there permanently.

More than 20 petitions were filed questioning the constitutional validity of the Indian government’s August 2019 decision to abrogate Article 370, The Hindustan Times reported.

“Petitioners claimed that constitutional provisions were violated while making the decision,” the report stated.

Moreover, The Hindu said that the petitioners had also brought up the case on February 17 for early listing.

“The Article 370 case has been pending in the Supreme Court for over two years. The case had not come up after a five-judge bench refused to refer the petitions to a larger bench in March 2020,” it added.

“I look forward to the hearings beginning in right earnest now,” Kashmiri leader Omar Abdullah tweeted.

BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur told ANI that Article 370 was legally removed by the Indian Parliament and “those who want to take the matter to courts can do so as they are open to all”.