Article 35A: Supreme Court to hear petition for scrapping Jammu and Kashmir's special status
Article 35A hearing in Supreme Court LIVE Updates: The Supreme Court on Monday postponed the hearing on a fresh petition filed by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay against Article 35A. The next date of hearing is August 31 when the apex court is expected to take up batch of pleas filed in the matter.
Article 35A, incorporated in the Constitution by a 1954 Presidential Order, accords special rights and privileges to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir and denies property rights to a woman who marries a person from outside the state.
It also bars people from rest of the country from buying or owning immovable property in the state, settle permanently, or get state government jobs.
A non-governmental organisation, We the Citizens, filed a petitioned in the apex court in 2014 to abolish the law on the grounds that it was "unconstitutional". Since the first petition, a batch of pleas have been filed in the matter.
The Jammu and Kashmir government had moved an application and sought to defer the hearing of the case, citing upcoming panchayat and urban local body elections.
NC engages Gopal Subramanium to defend Article 35A
Meanwhile, National Conference has engaged former solicitor general of India Gopal Subramanium to defend Article 35A.
"Party president and member of Parliament from Srinagar constituency, Farooq Abdullah, yesterday held detailed discussions with senior lawyers in Delhi in the context of petitions challenging the state's special status in the Supreme Court," an NC spokesman told media on Sunday.
He said Abdullah met Subramanium and engaged his service to represent the party's intervention plea in the apex court.
Subramanium is a former chairman of the Bar Council of India and has been a part of numerous landmark cases. He was awarded the National Law Day Award for being an outstanding jurist, presented to him in 2009 by the president.
The spokesman said Abdullah was accompanied by NC provincial presidents for Kashmir and Jammu Nasir Aslam Wani and Devender Singh Rana respectively during the meetings.
SOS international moves SC on Article 35A
SOS International, an organisation representing displaced people from the PoK, has moved an application for impleadment in connection with a batch of petitions in the Supreme Court challenging the validity of Article 35A of the Constitution.
The application filed on urged the apex court to consider the plight of the people displaced from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir who have been the victims of the provision, it said in a statement in Jammu
It said the application, filed on Friday by SOS International chairman Rajiv Chuni, has drawn attention to the "petty relief package" sanctioned by the Centre, whose benefit could not be taken by those who do not possess the state's domicile.
He also highlighted the plight of 12 lakh people and of more than 1.5 lakh families who are still residing in transit camps and living deplorable and miserable lives in Jammu and Kashmir, the statement said.
It said the displaced people who were settled in other states could not take benefit of the package.
"India a sovereign democratic republic and any kind of discrimination is a direct attack on the sovereignty, which has no place in the benign Constitution and is a flagrant breach of one's rights," Chuni claimed in the application.
(With inputs from agencies)
