SC upholds validity of Presidential order abrogating Article 370
In a big verdict, the Supreme Court on Monday upheld the validity of the presidential order abrogating the Article 370 of the constitution.
The top court said that the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir should be restored while directing the Election Commission of India to hold the assembly elections in the Union Territory by September 2024.
CJI Chandrachud said that President could have applied all provisions of the Constitution to J&K with the concurrence of the Centre & it wasn’t required to also obtain concurrence of the state assembly.
State of J&K does not retain any element of sovereignty. It does not have internal sovereignty. Article 370 a feature of asymmetric federalism and not sovereignty.
Petitioners did not challenge Presidential Proclamation. Exercise of Presidents’ power after the proclamation are subject to judicial review.
Power of Parliament under Article 356(1) to exercise powers on behalf of State assembly is not restricted to law making powers.
Meanwhile, security has been heightened in Srinagar ahead of the Supreme Court’s verdict on the batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
A five-judge constitution bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, and Surya Kant passed three judgements today.
On September 5, the apex court reserved the judgement after hearing the arguments for 16 days.
The central government had defended its decision to abrogate Article 370, saying there was no “constitutional fraud” in repealing the provision that accorded special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for Centre.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing on behalf of the petitioners, had opened the arguments, saying Article 370 was no longer a “temporary provision” and had assumed permanence post the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir.
He had contended that the Parliament could not have declared itself to be the legislature of J-K to facilitate the abrogation of Article 370, as Article 354 of the Constitution does not authorise such an exercise of power.
On August 5, 2019, the Central government announced the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir granted under Article 370 and split the region into two union territories.
