Can Parliament extinguish a state? What’s at stake as the Supreme Court hears Article 370 petitions

The Supreme Court on August 2 began hearing a batch of writ petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370, which had given Jammu and Kashmir special status under the Indian Constitution. One of the issues the court will be called to adjudicate upon is whether the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, violates Article 3 of the Constitution: this is the section that pertains to the formation of new states and alteration of the areas, boundaries or names of existing states.

Underlying the legalese is a more fundamental question: can Parliament, in the exercise of its powers under Article 3, extinguish a state already in existence and convert it into a Union Territory? For example, if the political imbroglio in Maharashtra continues, can Parliament by law declare that Maharashtra shall cease to exist, and that it shall instead be divided into a handful of Union Territories? What is at stake before the Supreme Court therefore is the future of Indian federalism.

To recap, after the recent amendment, Section 3 of the Reorganisation Act states that Kargil and Leh districts shall cease to be a part of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and shall now constitute the Union Territory of Ladakh. Section 4 states that the remaining districts of the erstwhile state...

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