Situation improving in J-K, curbs being lifted gradually: Centre tells Supreme Court

A bench headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Ranjan Gogoi also pulled up a petitioner for filing a defective application.

“I spent 30 minutes reading the petition on Article 370 but could not make out anything,” CJI said.

"I have read in the media report that restrictions on landline and broadline are likely to be removed by the evening today," the CJI added.

Meanwhile, the clampdown in the Valley continues for the 12th consecutive day on Friday, even as the authorities relaxed restrictions on the movement of people in Srinagar.

"Restrictions on the movement of people have been eased in most parts of the Valley. The situation so far has remained peaceful," a senior official of the state administration said here.

He said while the deployment of security forces on the ground remains as earlier, people were allowed to move around the city and other towns. 

Kashmir was placed a under a total clampdown on August 5, hours before Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced in the Rajya Sabha that the special status for the state had been revoked. 

The state administration has directed government employees to report at work from Friday through a radio announcement. 

However, the communication clampdown continues as all telephone and Internet services remained suspended. 

While schools are closed for the past two weeks, shops and other business establishments too remained shut since August 5. 

The official said the situation in the Valley was being monitored on a real-time basis and the decision to remove the forces would depend on the ground situation.

With PTI Inputs