On the one hand, the court says that states owe their powers to the Constitution, not to the Union. But on the other, it accepts that they owe their existence to Parliament no matter what the Constitution says
In J&K’s case, a key question was whether Article 370 could be abrogated with the state under President’s Rule. The Court held that “the exercise of power cannot be held mala fide merely because Article 356 (1)(b) is a non-law making power or that it furthers an important federal principle”
Article 3 of the Constitution, that deals with formation of new states and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing states, requires the President to necessarily refer such a law to the state legislature concerned for “expressing its views.”
Article 370 Abrogation: The apex court also set a deadline of September 30, 2024, for conducting Assembly elections in the Union Territory of J&K while affirming the validity of the Centre’s move to establish the Union Territory of Ladakh from the former State.