{"id":6317,"date":"2017-08-11T18:54:49","date_gmt":"2017-08-11T13:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=6317"},"modified":"2017-08-11T18:54:49","modified_gmt":"2017-08-11T13:24:49","slug":"move-to-re-open-debate-on-article-35a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/move-to-re-open-debate-on-article-35a\/","title":{"rendered":"Move to re-open debate on Article 35A"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Context<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The government\u2019s reply last month to the Supreme Court, saying that the questions raised in a petition challenging Article 35A require a \u201clarger debate\u201d, has predictably stirred a hornet\u2019s nest in Kashmir.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Article 35A: Current issue<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Centre has expressed its reservations in responding to a petition before the Supreme Court that calls for declaring as \u201cunconstitutional\u201d the Article 35A, which grants the Jammu and Kashmir legislature powers to define the state\u2019s \u201cpermanent residents\u201d.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Article 35A of the Constitution provides special rights and privileges to the \u201cpermanent residents\u201d of J&amp;K.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A provision which came into effect in 1954 when the President used the powers conferred on him by Article 370 to introduce the \u2018Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order 1954.\u2019<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Under the said provision, which appears in the Constitution as an \u201cappendix\u201d and not as an amendment to the Article 35, citizens from other parts of the country are prohibited from acquiring immovable property in the J&amp;K, taking up employment under the state government, availing of the state-sponsored scholarship schemes, or settling permanently anywhere in the state.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The petition, filed by a Delhi-based NGO, We the citizens, demanded that the Article 35A should be held \u201cunconstitutional\u201d as the President could not have \u201camended the Constitution\u201d by way of the 1954 order, and that it was only supposed to be a \u201ctemporary provision\u201d. The Article was never presented before Parliament, and came into effect immediately.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The state of J&amp;K has defended the provision, saying in its affidavit that the Article has become \u201ca permanent feature of the Indian Constitution\u201d.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The BJP-RSS aversion to J&amp;K\u2019s special status is well known; one of the RSS\u2019s oft-stated objectives, reiterated by many in the BJP, is the abrogation of Article 370, which stands in the way of the demographic seen as the \u201cpermanent solution\u201d to the problems in Kashmir. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All this has served to strengthen suspicions that the Centre is using the legal route to bring about the changes that it wants. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti sought to bury the hatchet with a bitter political rival and knocked at the door of National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah for discussions to hammer out a common political position on this matter speaks to the urgency it holds in the Valley.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chief Minister Mufti\u2019s grim cautioning that there will be none left in Kashmir to shoulder the tri-colour if 35A is struck down should be heeded. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As also the statement of National Conference leader Omar Abdullah that opening up 35A for debate is nothing less than questioning the accession itself.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Article 35A<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Article was added by a 1954 presidential order issued under Article 370, the constitutional provision that mediates the relationship between the Union of India and Kashmir on conditions agreed upon during the state\u2019s 1947 accession. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Article 35A empowers the state legislative assembly to specify permanent residents.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 1956 J&amp;K Constitution defines a Permanent Resident as one who, apart from being an Indian citizen, was a state subject on May 14, 1954, or a resident of the state for 10 years, and owns immovable property in the state.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kashmiris are not far off the mark when they argue that had it not been for the steady erosion of Article 370 through the years, the situation in Kashmir would not have reached this pass. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the Valley, the government\u2019s reply on 35A is being seen as paving the way for moves to do away with Article 370 that excludes J&amp;K from most laws enacted by Parliament, except through presidential orders that have the concurrence of the J&amp;K Legislative Assembly.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Indeed, the court has also asked the Centre to respond to a petition challenging Article 370. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Article 370 <\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Article 370 of the Indian constitution deals with the provision of certain special powers provided to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It grants a \u2018temporary\u2019 autonomous status to the state of Jammu &amp; Kashmir. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The article was a product of Kashmir\u2019s accord to Indian after the Independence. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the things stood, the people of Kashmiri valley (Muslim majority) were apprehensive and blanched about their identity getting lost in a Hindu dominated country.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There was also rising pressure from the radical Islamic groups to give autonomy to the government of Jammu &amp; Kashmir. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To address the issue, the Indian government gave momentary special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir under this article. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This article has gone through many alterations since its origin in 1947.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Article 370 is beyond amendment, repeal or annulment, in as much as the Constituent Assembly of the State before its dissolution did not recommend its Amendment or repeal.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Provisions of Article 370<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Except for Defense, Foreign Affairs, Finance and Communications, the Indian Government needs the State Government\u2019s nod to apply all other laws.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The central govt. has no power to impose financial emergency in the state. Emergency can be imposed only on the grounds of internal disturbances and imminent danger from a foreign enemy. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Therefore, the state government has the control on how it needs to govern the state without worrying about the consent of the central government. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Due to this article, Indian nationals belonging to other states cannot buy land or property in the state of J&amp;K. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Woman who marries a person belonging to any other state loses her right to ownership; however, this is a contentious matter<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Context The government\u2019s reply last month to the Supreme Court, saying that the questions raised in a petition challenging Article 35A require a \u201clarger debate\u201d, has predictably stirred a hornet\u2019s nest in Kashmir. Article 35A: Current issue The Centre has expressed its reservations in responding to a petition before the Supreme Court that calls for&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/move-to-re-open-debate-on-article-35a\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Move to re-open debate on Article 35A<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":3454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bills-policies","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/SC-allows-abortion-2.jpg?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1704823686},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}