New Delhi: ‘Article 370’ of the Constitution which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir is not a temporary provision held the Apex Court on Tuesday.
The bench comprising of Justices AK Goel and R F Nariman was hearing an appeal filed by petitioner Kumari Vijayalakshmi Jha against Delhi High Court’s order dismissing her plea seeking a declaration that Article 370 of Constitution was a temporary provision and had lapsed with the dissolution of J&K Constituent Assembly.
The Apex court then said, “The issue concerned is covered by the judgement of this court in the 2017 SARFAESI matter, where we have held that despite the headnote of Article 370, it is not a temporary provision,” giving the Article 370 a permanent status.
Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Centre urged the court to hear the matter later since similar matters pertaining to the Article are pending before the court and are to be listed shortly.
While Senior Advocate’s Rajeev Dhavan and Shoeb Alam appearing for Jammu and Kashmir Government argued the matters pending before the court do not relate to Article 370 but are rather related to Article 35 A as said by the ASG, TOI reported.
Advocate Dhavan said matters pending before the court are different from the present matter and two different matters pertaining to different sections cannot be heard together.
The petition claimed that since the Constituent Assembly of J&K dissolved the continuation of Article 370 only “amounts to fraud on the basic structure of our Constitution”.
However the bench adjourned the matter for three weeks after ASG insistence.