Synopsis: The petition states that the Central Government is bringing in sweeping reforms that affect the rights and protections of Jammu & Kashmir’s permanent residents.
The Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC) Political Party has filed an application with the Supreme Court of India requesting an early hearing in the batch of petitions challenging the revocation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.
The plea filed by Sajad Gani Lone-led JKPC through its spokesperson Adnan Ashraf contends that the Central Government is introducing sweeping reforms in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and that the same would have an irreparable effect on the rights of J&K people.
The application also argues that the petitioners have made a very good prima facie argument and that the Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench is considering the issues presented.
It is the case of the petitioner that the proceedings before the Supreme Court concerning the appeal for the revocation of Article 370 will be seriously undermined if the present petitions are not urgently heard and fixed.
The plea says, that the present petition and the petitions labelled thereto should be heard and disposed of immediately, as the Centre has already brought about substantial improvements in the rights of the people of the former State of Jammu and Kashmir.
The application requested an early hearing on the petition asking that the repeal of some provisions of Article 370 be declared unconstitutional. It has also sought a direction to declare the bifurcation of the former state into J&K and Ladakh as “unconstitutional and invalid”.
This is the second appeal brought before the Apex court requesting an early trial in the case. Last week, Shakir Shabir, another applicant, also filed an application requesting an early hearing in the case.
On August 5, to supersede the Constitution (Application to Jammu & Kashmir) Order, 1954, the Constitution (Application to Jammu & Kashmir) Order, 2019, was adopted. The 1954 Order set out clauses which would not extend to Jammu and Kashmir in the Constitution of India.
In its place, with a few exceptions and amendments, the 2019 Order provided that all provisions of the Constitution of India will refer to the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
Although the President was granted the power to revoke or amend Article 370 according to clause (3) of the Article, the Constituent Assembly of the State of Jammu & Kashmir agreed to a pre-condition for the same. However, the Constituent Assembly ceased to exist as far back as the 1950s.
In order to resolve this obstacle, Article 367 of the Presidential Order now under appeal was amended to replace the reference in Article 370(3) to ‘Constituent Assembly’ to mean ‘Legislative Assembly.’
Subsequently, on August 6, the President released another decree, rendering Article 370 redundant.
After the National Conference (NC), JKPC was the second political party to initiate a legal challenge in the Supreme Court against the changes made in the state’s Constitutional status.
Through its Lok Sabha MPs, Mohammad Akbar Lone and Justice Hasnain Masoodi (retd), the National Conference (NC) filed petitions questioning the scrapping of the special status of J&K.
In March of this year, the Supreme Court’s 5-judge Constitution bench held that it was not necessary to refer the batch of petitions challenging Article 370 to a seven-judge Constitution bench.