Delhi HC adjourns plea against Article 370 till March 16

The Delhi High Court adjourned till March 16 the hearing on a petition challenging the validity of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

As the hearing of the case started before a division bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath, the counsel for the territory, GM Kawoosa, submitted that the petitioner had not served a copy of the additional affidavit to him. Subsequently, the court adjourned the case till March 16 with a direction to the petitioner to serve a copy of the additional affidavit to the parties in the case.The petitioner, Kumari Vijayalakshmi Jha, has urged the court to decide whether a temporary provision lapsed automatically with the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir on January 26, 1957. “From perusal of Article 370, it becomes clear that the said provision of Article 370 was valid till the Constituent Assembly, constituted for framing the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir exited/continued,” the plea said.

Last year, the High Court of the territory had ruled that Article 370 assumes a place of permanence in the Constitution and is beyond amendment, repeal or abrogation. “Article 370, though titled ‘Temporary Provision’ and included in Para XXI titled ‘Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions’ has assumed place of permanence in the Constitution,” a division Bench court had ruled in a 60-page judgment.“

It is beyond amendment, repeal or abrogation, in as much as Kashmir Assembly before its dissolution did not recommend its Amendment or repeal,” the bench added.