There is a widely held belief that the Supreme Court had upheld the actions of the government in ‘abrogating’ Article 370 of the Constitution that conferred a special status on Jammu & Kashmir. The government claimed that the ‘abrogation’ was validated by the Court and some scholars seem to have accepted the claim. Wrong, as I had pointed out in a column (‘Towards a Dystopian Future’, Indian Express, December 17, 2023). In fact, the Supreme Court had held to the contrary on the issue of ‘abrogation’.

Abrogation illegal, but…

On August 5, 2019, the government took three steps:

All three steps were held impermissible and unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, the Supreme Court reasoned that the exercise of power under Article 370(1) applying all the provisions of the Constitution to Jammu & Kashmir was valid and it had the same effect as ‘abrogating’ Article 370.

Let’s have clarity on the legal position: the so-called abrogation of Article 370 was achieved through too clever-by-half drafting. That was ruled it to be impermissible. What was upheld was the application or extension of all the provisions of the Constitution to J&K under Article 370(1).

Matter not closed

Anyway,........

© Mathrubhumi English