New Delhi/IBNS/UNI: The Supreme Court Tuesday asked the Attorney General (AG) and Solicitor General (SG) to get instructions from the Centre if there is a timeframe to make Jammu and Kashmir a state again while hearing submissions in defence of the abolition of Article 370.

A five-judge Constitution bench, led by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, asked the AG and SG to apprise it of the timeframe it has in mind for restoration of statehood to J&K.

"Does Parliament have the power to convert an existing Indian state into a Union territory," the apex court questioned the Centre.

SG Tushar Mehta replied that the decision to make Jammu and Kashmir a Union Territory was not permanent.

"J&K would again be made a State when things will get normal," he told the court.

The Five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court is at present hearing a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories.