Srinagar, Aug 03: As the hearing on a batch of petitions challenging the scrapping of Article 370 commenced on Wednesday in the Supreme Court, 18 lawyers representing different parties are likely to conclude their oral arguments within 60 hours.
The synopsis received by the nodal counsel Advocate-on-Record Prasanna S states that a total of 18 counsels will be presenting arguments on behalf of various petitioners, the news agency KNO reported.
As per the report, senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Gopal Subramanium are anticipated to take 10 hours each to conclude their arguments.
While Sibal represents NC’s Muhammad Akbar Lone, Subramanium will argue on behalf of Muzaffar Iqbal Khan, a petitioner in the case. Senior Advocates Shekhar Naphade and Zafar Shah are expected to speak for eight hours each.
Shekhar Naphade represents former Kashmir interlocutor Radha Kumar. Zaffar Shah is himself a petitioner in the case. Senior advocate PC Sen, who will also appear on behalf of Radha Kumar and others, will speak for three hours.
Senior Advocates Dushyant Dave and Chander Uday Singh are expected to present their arguments within four hours each. Dave represents Rifat Ara Butt while CU Singh is appearing on behalf of Inderji Tikoo, Satish Jacob and MY Tarigami.
Additionally, senior advocates Dinesh Dwivedi (Manohar Lal Sharma and Prem Shanker Jha petitioners), and Gopal Sankaranarayanan (Soyaib Quershi petitioner) are expected to require approximately three hours each for their respective arguments.
Senior Advocates Rajeev Dhavan, who is representing Peoples Conference, will take about two hours each for oral arguments and Sanjay Parkeh will also take equal time to conclude their arguments. Parekh represents Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).
While the expected argument time indication of these counsel amounts to approximately 57 hours. The remaining three hours, as per the written submission, have been allocated to intervention applicants, two of whom are represented by Senior Advocates Menaka Guruswamy and Nitya Ramakrishnan and are allocated a time frame of 30 minutes each.
While advocate Maneka Guruswamy represents Javid Bhat and Awami National Conference, Nitya Ramakrishnan is appearing on behalf of the Peoples Democratic Party. Others who are arguing on behalf of interveners include senior Advocate PV Surendranath (30 minutes), advocate Manish Tewari (15 minutes) advocate Irfan Hafiz Lone (10 minutes) and advocate Zahoor Ahmad Bhat (10 minutes).
(KNO)
