New Delhi, Apr 4: In a significant reiteration of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, Supreme Court of India, Tuesday said that Article 370 was a permanent provision in the Constitution, reported media outlet Scroll.
“The issue is already decided in our judgment where we have said that despite the fact the headnote says it’s a temporary provision, it’s not,” Justice Nariman told counsel Anil Kumar Jha.
“The court was hearing an appeal against a 2017 Delhi High Court order that dismissed a plea seeking to declare Article 370 temporary in nature. The petitioner said that Article 370 had lapsed and that the separate constitution of Jammu and Kashmir be declared illegal” Scroll reported.
The petitioner also claimed that the continuing Article 370 even after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir, and that of the Jammu and Kashmir “amounts to fraud on the basic structure of our Constitution.”
Last week, Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir had told the Lok Sabha there was no proposal to scrap Article 370. The BJP’s election manifesto in 2014 had included scrapping Article 370. This has been a matter of contention between the BJP and its ally in Jammu and Kashmir, the People’s Democratic Party.
