Centre not to file counter-affidavit on Article 35A

Centre not to file counter-affidavit on Article 35A

News:

1. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition has challenged the Article 35 A in the Supreme Court.

Important Facts:

2. The petition was filed by We The Citizens arguing that Article 35 A is against the very spirit of oneness of India as it creates a “class within a class of Indian citizens.”

3. Another petition has challenged Article 35A for protecting certain provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution, which restrict the basic right to property.
4. Article 35 A allows the Jammu and Kashmir legislature to decide the “permanent residents” of the State, prohibits a non-State resident from buying property in the State and ensures reservation in employment for residents.
5. Article 35 A was incorporated into the Constitution by an order of the then President Rajendra Prasad on the advice of the Jawaharlal Nehru Cabinet in 1954.
6. The Constitution Order followed the 1952 Delhi Agreement between Nehru and the then Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Sheikh Abdullah, which extended Indian citizenship to the ‘State subjects’ of Jammu and Kashmir.
7. Article 35A grants a special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
8. Further development in the petition of Article 35 A

• The  Centre has decided not to file any counter-affidavit in this case because the issues, which are raised for adjudication, are pure questions of law.”