Early Times Report
srinagar, Nov 3: The Supreme Court today granted four weeks time as last chance to the State Government to file counter affidavit to a petition challenging the constitutional validity of Article 35(A), which allows the State of Jammu and Kashmir to grant special privileges and rights to permanent residents.
The petition was listed before the Supreme Court registry, which granted the J&K Government till December 3 to file its response.
"Four weeks time, as last chance is granted for filing the counter affidavit," the court's registry said and posted the case on 3.12.2015.
The direction passed after G.M. Kawoosa, representing the State appeared on behalf of the State and sought time to file the response.
The petition was filed by We the Citizens, a Delhi-based NGO registered as a society, through its president, Sandeep Kulkarni, in 2014.
Subsequently, notices were issued to the respondents, including the J&K Government and the Union Government, to file their response before the petition was admitted.
The petition had come up before a bench of Justice HL Dattu and SA Bobde in August 2014, but since then, both J&K and the Union Governments have delayed filing response to the petition, thus avoiding to take a public stand on the petition, which challenges the validity of Article 35(A).
Stating that the J&K Constitution is sovereign in character and the State Assembly exercises sovereign power to legislate laws, the J&K High Court in a landmark judgment recently said Article 35(A) of the Constitution clarifies the already existing constitutional and legal position and does not extend something new to the State.
"Article 35(A) is a provision to clear the issue of constitutional position obtaining in the rest of the country in contrast to the State of J&K. This provision clears the constitutional relationship between the people of rest of country and the people of J&K," the High Court ruled, upholding the special status of J&K under Article 370.
"Article 370, notwithstanding its title showing it a "temporary provision" is a permanent provision of the Constitution, it cannot be abrogated, repealed or even amended as mechanism provided under Clause (3) of Article 370," a division bench of the court had said.
The Constituent Assembly in terms of proviso to Clause (3) Article 370 is conferred power to recommend to the President that Article 370 be declared to cease to be operative or operate only with the exceptions and modifications mentioned in the recommendation, if any so made. |
