ARTICLE 35A DENIED MANY IN J&K THEIR RIGHTS: CJI
CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR 29TH AUGUST,2023
ARTICLE 35A DENIED MANY IN J&K THEIR RIGHTS: CJI
The Chief Justice of India said Article 35A empowered the Jammu & Kashmir legislature to define "permanent residents" of the State and provide special privileges.
"It gave special rights and privileges to permanent residents and virtually took away the rights of non-residents. These rights included the right to equal opportunity of state employment, right to acquire property and the right to settle in J&K".
'Permanent residents' of the erstwhile State included people who were hereditary State subjects as in 1927, when J&K was a princely state prior to its accession to the Indian Dominion in 1947.
Article 35A further mandated that any law which provides for these special privileges to this class would not violate fundamental rights like Article 14, 19(1)(e) and even Article 21 (rights to life and personal liberty) and 22 (protection against preventive detention).
The Chief Justice said that the abrogation of Article 370 and abolishing J&K as a full-fledged State was facilitated by first dissolving the State legislation and then proclaiming President's Rule under Article 356.
He pointed to the proviso in Article 3, which made it mandatory for the President to consult the State Legislation before altering the status of a State. The proclamation of President's Rule had done away with the applicability of that proviso.