Twist to Article 35A row, key file goes missing from Home Ministry

A key Kashmir file justifying the insertion of Article 35A into the Constitution has gone missing from the high security vaults of North Block in New Delhi, a media report said today.
The incident comes at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing a petition by an RSS-backed NGO seeking the abrogation of the Article, which bars outsiders from acquiring land or jobs in Jammu and Kashmir.

“A 63-year-old file containing legal opinion on Article 35A has vanished from North Block’s high-security vaults at a time the provision, which grants special rights and privileges to permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir, faces a legal challenge to its constitutionality,” reported The Telegraph newspaper.
“Our employees are frantically searching for the file, which is crucial to the case as we have to convey our stand in the Supreme Court at the next hearing on August 29,” a senior Union Home Ministry official said.
He said the file had disappeared from the ministry’s legal and administrative records section, perhaps during the ministry’s Swachh Bharat campaign between June 22 and 26 in 2015 when it weeded out hundreds of old files.

Home Ministry sources said the Centre was unlikely to take any stand in the apex court on the issue.
“It’s a procedural matter, and it’s up to the Supreme Court to decide. The attorney-general (K.K. Venugopal) is preparing the reply to be submitted before the court on August 29,” an official said.
“He had recently asked for the 1954 file, which is when we realised that it had disappeared.”
Sources said the Centre had already sought intelligence inputs on the possible fallout in Kashmir if the apex court revoked or amended the Article, and been warned that it could trigger unrest.