The Supreme Court today refused to refer pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the Centre's decision of August 5 last year to abrogate provisions of Article 370, to a larger seven-judge bench.

On January 23, a five-judge Constitution bench, presided by Justice N V Ramana and including justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, R Subhash Reddy, BR Gavai and Surya Kant, had reserved its order on reference of the case to a larger bench.

The central government scrapped Article 370 in August last year, ending special provisions accorded to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating it into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir (with a legislative assembly) and Ladakh (without one).

A total of 23 petitions have been filed on issues related to abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution.

These include petitions filed by former IAS officer Shah Faisal, leaders like MY Tarigami and Farrow Ahmad Dar, the People's Union for Civil Liberties, refugees from West Pakistan, and Kashmiri Pandit women, among others.