Adjourn 35A plea hearing, J& K tells SC

Amid protests in support of Article 35A gaining momentum in Jammu and Kashmir, the state government on Friday moved an application in the Supreme Court seeking adjournment on hearing the petition which challenges the constitutional validity of the provision.

Article 35A guarantees special rights and privileges to permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir. It also empowers the state legislature to define such “permanent residents”. It was added to the Constitution through a Presidential Order in 1954 issued by the then President in exercise of the powers conferred by clause ( 1) of Article 370 of the Constitution, with the concurrence of the Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Article 370 guarantees a special status to Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian Union.

A three- bench of the SC is scheduled to resume hearing on a petition seeking removal of Article 35A on August 6. The petition filed by an NGO, ‘ We the Citizens, believed to be an RSS think- tank, in 2014 challenges 35A on grounds that it was not added to the Constitution through amendment under Article 368 and that it was never presented before Parliament, and came into effect immediately.

In another case filed in the SC in July last year, two Kashmiri women argued that the state's laws, flowing from Article 35A, had disenfranchised their children. The SC was also hearing yet another plea challenging the validity of Article 370. The petition challenged the April 11, 2017 order of the Delhi high court rejecting a plea saying nothing survives in it as the apex court has already dismissed a similar prayer on the issue. The SC has clubbed all these petitions in one and has listed them for hearing on Monday before a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud.

The J& K sought the adjournment in hearing the petitions in view of a possible law and order situation, the official sources here said.

J& K is under Governor’s Rule since June 20 after the Mehbooba Mufti- led coalition government collapsed as the BJP walked out of the alliance.