Muzaffar Hussain Baig to defend Article 35A in Supreme Court: PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senior leader and MP Muzaffar Hussain Baig would defend Article 35A in Supreme Court, the party said on Wednesday.
Srinagar, Aug 15: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday held a detailed meet with her party ’s top leadership over the per cent political situation and measures needed to be taken to defend Article 35-A at country’s top court.
PDP chief spokesman Rafi Ahmad Mir said party President and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti presided over the meeting of party leaders at her Srinagar residence today.
He said the meeting discussed in detail the current political situation in the state and need to safeguard Article 35-A.
“It was unanimously agreed during the meeting that the special position accorded to the state by the constitution of India needs to be protected on all fronts and that the party will remain in the forefront to defend it in country’s Supreme Court,” Mir said.
The meeting, he said, also highlighted how the PDP while being part of the coalition took drastic and vital measures for the defence of the Article 35-A and the then government had engaged top lawyers of the country for the purpose.
Mehbooba emphasised that the fight to safeguard Jammu and Kashmir’s special status will be carried forward with the same zest.
Mir said party’s senior leader and MP Muzaffar Hussain Baig along with party’s legal counsel would fight the assault being launched against the state’s special position in Supreme Court of India and will remain present in the court on next hearing slated to be held on August 27.
He said Baig would on party’s behalf utilise his legal expertise to the fullest to defend 35-A in the court and besides that, the party leadership in unison shall remain in the frontline to ensure that the state’s unique position and status isn’t fiddled with at any cost.
The Supreme Court had, on August 6, said a three-judge bench would decide whether the pleas challenging Article 35-A should be referred to a five-judge Constitution bench for examining the larger issue of alleged violation of the doctrine of basic structure of the Constitution.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice A Khanwilkar had adjourned the crucial hearing on as many as five petitions “to the week commencing from August 27” on the grounds that they pertained to the challenge to a Constitutional scheme and could not be heard as the third judge, Justice D Y Chandrachud, was not present on that day.
Article 35-A, which was incorporated in the Constitution by a 1954 Presidential Order, accords special rights and privileges to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir.