The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the Centre's response on a plea challenging the special status given to Jammu & Kashmir under Article 370. The petition was filed as an appeal against a Delhi High Court order stated that Article 370 is a temporary provision of the Constitution and had lapsed with the dissolution of the state's Constituent Assembly in 1957.
The Bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar, Justices Adarsh K Goel and DY Chandrachud issued notice on the appeal filed by Kumari Vijaylakshmi Jha. Her plea was earlier rejected by the Delhi High Court in April this year.
The Bench told the petitioner's counsel that the appeal will also involve an earlier decision given by the apex court rejecting a similar petition challenging the validity of Article 370. However, the petitioner's counsel Anil Jha informed the Court that this petition was different from the ones previously filed.
According to the petition, the provision of Article 370 was meant to be a temporary one in the Constitution and had lapsed with the dissolution of State's Constituent Assembly on January 26, 1957.
It further said, "Continuance of temporary provision of Article 370, even after dissolution of Constituent Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir, continuance of J&K Constitution which has never got the assent or approval of President of India or Parliament or Government of India, regarding matters like citizenship, which is in exclusive jurisdiction of the Parliament, amounts to fraud on the basic structure of our Constitution." Further, the petition added that Article 370 went against the sovereignty, integrity and unit of the country and supremacy of Parliament.
In the year 2015, a similar petition had come up in the Supreme Court demanding scrapping of this provision granting special status to Jammu & Kashmir. The Supreme Court dismissed the petition on the ground that the Parliament was the sole authority to decide on this question and it was out of Court's jurisdiction to recommend scrapping of a Constitutional provision to the Parliament.