Jammu and Kashmir: Supreme Court to hear petitions challenging abrogation of Article 370 today

1. The Central Government yesterday filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court defending the abrogation of Article 370. The affidavit highlighted the stability and progress witnessed in Jammu and Kashmir after demonetisation, including reduction in incidents of stone pelting and dismantling of terror networks.
2. 2. “Jammu and Kashmir was facing the brunt of terrorism for the last three decades. “The only way to curb this was to abrogate Article 370,” the affidavit said. The abrogation of the Article led to the introduction of the three-tier Panchayati Raj system and successful elections to District Development Councils.
3. “Today all essential institutions including schools, colleges, industries are running normally in the valley. Industrial development is taking place and those who used to live in fear are living in peace,” the affidavit said.
4. The affidavit said that meeting the demands of the people, local languages ​​like Kashmiri, Dogri, Urdu and Hindi have been added as official languages. The affidavit was filed in response to over 20 pending petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370
5. Article 370 of the Indian Constitution granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir, a disputed region in northern India. It provided Jammu and Kashmir with a separate constitution, a state flag and internal administrative autonomy.
6. After convening the State Constituent Assembly, it recommended provisions of the Indian Constitution applicable to Jammu and Kashmir, resulting in the 1954 Presidential Order. Since the State Constituent Assembly dissolved itself without recommending the repeal of Article 370, the Article was considered a permanent feature of the Indian Constitution.
7. On August 5, 2019, the Government of India issued a presidential order repealing the 1954 order, making all provisions of the Indian Constitution applicable to Jammu and Kashmir.
8. The order was based on a resolution passed by a two-thirds majority in both houses of the Parliament of India. A subsequent order on 6 August made all clauses except clause 1 of Article 370 inoperative.
9. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act, 2019 was enacted, which bifurcated the state into two union territories: the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh.
10. The reorganization became effective on October 31, 2019.

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The petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 were last listed for hearing in March 2020. The five-judge bench refused to refer the matter to a larger bench.

During that hearing, the bench noted that another batch of petitions challenging the validity of Articles 370 and 35A, which give special status to Jammu and Kashmir, are already pending in the Supreme Court. The bench decided to hear all the cases related to Article 370 together.

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Updated: July 11, 2023, 09:10 AM IST