New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir government on a PIL seeking to declare as unconstitutional Article 35A in the Constitution conferring special status to Jammu and Kashmir state and denying rights of generations of permanent settlers.
A Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud while issuing notice tagged the PIL for hearing with similar petitions pending adjudication. The PIL contended that the President could not have amended the Constitution by the 1954-order and it was supposed to be a temporary provision.
Article 35A bars all the Indians— other than the original inhabitants of the state—from acquiring immovable property anywhere in J&K, obtaining jobs under the J&K Government, settling in the state and availing the scholarships. The petitioner contended that the J&K government has been discriminating against non-residents.
