The Supreme Court on Monday deferred the hearing on Article 35A by twelve weeks. The apex court was to hear the petition against Article 35A seeking a repeal of the article. Article 35A grants state subject to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir and grants them rights.
As per the article, the rights given to the subjects of the state are exclusive. It disallows people from outside the state from buying or owning immovable property here, settle permanently, or avail themselves of state-sponsored scholarship schemes.
The petition in the case has been filed by a Delhi-based NGO, We the Citizens, saying the state’s autonomous status granted by Article 35(A) and Article 370 of the Constitution ‘discriminates against fellow citizens from the rest of India’.
On Sunday, Joint Resistance Leadership comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Yasin Malik asked people to be ready for a mass agitation if the article 35 A is removed.
Former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Jagmohan has strongly advocated the removal of Article 35A from the Constitution of India. Jagmohan said, “They have created a land without justice. The provisions introduced through the Constitutional Order of 1954 were done intentionally. It’s not as if the leaders, the parliamentarians didn’t know what they were doing.This law must go.”
The state government had prepared a defense against the petition.
Saying that defending Constitution of India, to which Article 35A is integral, can’t be anti-national, National Conference Working President Mr Omar Abdullah had lamented over BJP making this issue a Hindu versus Muslim and the state versus rest of the country issue after falling short of arguments to ‘justify their moves’ in this regard.
