Apex court quashes mischievous propaganda

In its order last Friday, the Supreme Court once and for all settled the issue of the so-called sovereignty of Jammu & Kashmir, which separatists and like-minded people were claiming the State had. The apex court unambiguously stated that Jammu & Kashmir “has no vestige of sovereignty outside the Constitution of India”. It made it clear that while the State has a Constitution of its own, that is subordinate to the Constitution of India and the people, who are permanent residents of the State, are first governed by the Constitution of India, which is supreme, and then by the Constitution of Jammu & Kashmir. While calling a Jammu & Kashmir High Court's ruling of the last year as “disturbing”, a Bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohinton Nariman said the High Court that gone out of its way “to refer to a sovereignty which does not exist”. The High Court had in July last year said that the State's sovereignty remained “legally and constitutionally” intact and could not be challenged or altered. The top court's verdict came close on the heels of a Special leave Petition filed by State Bank of India, where it sought to challenge the High Court's verdict in which the court had said that various provisions of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest (SARFAESI) Act were not valid for permanent residents of the State, as they would come in conflict with the Transfer of Property Act of Jammu & Kashmir.

The SARFAESI Act, enacted by Parliament in 2002, gave the banks and other financial institutions the authority to seize/auction residential or commercial properties of defaulters, to dispose them off and recover bad debts. Citing Jammu & Kashmir's unique “constitutional position”, the High Court debarred the banks from enacting the Act which, according to it, went against the interest of the State's people. However, as an alternative, the court allowed the banks to recover the money by taking recourse to other laws and forums. Shooting down these arguments, the apex court ruled that the High Court had not once but thrice, gone “out of its way to refer to a sovereignty” which was non-existent. It added that the SARFAESI Act was a subject matter of national importance and did not require consensus from the State Government. The court correctly made the distinction between the allotment of powers between the State, which must decide on local matters, and the Centre, which must decide on matters of national importance.

The apex court's verdict has far-reaching consequences. It will, on the one hand, empower banks to seize property of defaulters and help them recover bad debts. On the other, the verdict will lead to a greater integration of Jammu & Kashmir into the Union of India. The J&K High Court must understand that it has an equal responsibility along with the top court to uphold the Constitution of India, and to not undermine it. Instead of giving ‘populist’ orders, it must work hand-in-hand towards a robust integration of Jammu & Kashmir. Meanwhile, it is unfortunate that not only separatists, but also leaders from various political parties, had been harping on this bogus sovereignty. Now that the apex court has taken a final call, the nonsensical talk of sovereignty for J&K must end.