Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 3: J&K National Panthers Party, Dogra Front , J&K High Court Bar Association (Jammu) and several other organisations have termed Art 35-A as invasion on the Fundamental Rights of the people and demanded its revocation without any delay for the betterment of the people of the State.
A meeting of Legal Aid Committee was held today to discuss the implications caused by Art 35- A imposed by the President of India in 1954. The Legal experts felt that the President of India by adding A with Art 35 in the Indian Constitution has slapped all Fundamental Rights of the residents of Jammu & Kashmir. It was also felt that people of Jammu & Kashmir have been misled by the power hungry politicians in Jammu & Kashmir so that they could rule the people of J&K without rule of law.
NPP stalwart Prof Bhim Singh told the lawyers that thousands of people in Jammu & Kashmir had been put in jails without any law for years which included Sheikh Abdullah and his colleagues. Prof Singh said that he himself spent more than eight years in jails without any offense. It was only that Fundamental Rights of J&K were suppressed by Art. 35 -A imposed by the President of India without any authority of law. Art 35 was part of the Chapter on Fundamental Rights in the Indian Constitution. People of Jammu & Kashmir have remained denied of Fundamental Rights because of Art 35- A in 1954.
NPP leader accused the Central and the State leadership to mislead the people in J&K regarding the evil designs of Art 35 A. He said that even today the power hungry politician in J&K and their supporters have been misleading the innocent people, giving false impression about Art. 35 A. Bhim Singh said that real face of evil designs behind Art. 35 A need to be brought to the notice of the people of Jammu & Kashmir so that the people of the State shall also enjoy Fundamental Rights provided in the Constitution of India from Art. 12 to Art. 35. “A” is against the interest and the civil rights & political rights of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. Those defending “A” are in fact against provision of Fundamental Rights to the people of J&K.
The workers of Dogra Front and Shiv Sena under the leadership of president Ashok Gupta took out a procession in Jammu city demanding the revocation of Article 35A as the apex court will announce its judgment on the August 8.
Mr Gupta stated that Article 35A was not added to the Constitution by following the procedure prescribed for amendment of the Constitution of India under Article 368. Article 370 does not anywhere confer on the President legislative or executive powers so vast that he can amend the Constitution or perform the function of Parliament. It has been brought about by the executive organ when actually the right of amendment of the Constitution lies with the legislative organ.
Besides carrying out many modifications and changes, this order ‘added’ a new “Article 35A” to the Constitution of India. Addition or deletion of an Article amounted to an amendment to the Constitution which could be done only by Parliament as per procedure laid down in Article 368. But, Article 35A was never presented before Parliament.
Article 35A violates the Article 14 for the equality of the law. If any woman from J&K marries outside her state all her rights in the state are ended as then she cannot buy any land or claim any kind of benefit. He said Article 35A does not form part of the 395 Articles of the Constitution. It is found in one of the appendices of the Constitution. Article 35A was inserted through a Presidential Order in 1954. Article 35A disallows Indian citizens from other states to employment under the State Government; acquisition of immovable property in the State, settlement in the State or right to scholarships and such other forms of aid as the State Government may provide. It facilitates the free and unrestrained violation of Fundamental Rights of those workers and settlers like Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe people who have lived there for generations.
Dogra Front leader pointed out that the `Valmikis’ who were brought to the State during 1957 were given Permanent Resident Certificates on the condition that they and their future generations could stay in the state only if they continued to be Safai-karmacharis (scavengers). And even after six decades of service in the state, their children are Safai-karmacharis and they have been denied the right to quit scavenging and choose any other profession.
The industrial sector and whole private sector suffers due to the property ownership restrictions. Good doctors don’t come to the state for the same reason. Children of non-state subjects do not get admission to State colleges. It ruins the status of West Pakistani refugees. Being citizens of India they are not stateless persons, but being non-permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir, they cannot enjoy the basic rights and privileges as being enjoyed by permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir. The article should be repealed for the betterment of the State, he maintained.
Meanwhile, BJP MLC Advocate Ramesh Arora has stated that certain elements in the state wants to vitiate peaceful atmosphere and wanted to aggravate the situation especially in Kashmir valley.
Arora said all the people here are governed by rule of law and our system is run on democratic norms. He further said matter of 35A is sub-judice before Supreme Court and bandh call given by few so-called leaders is only meant to interfere into justice delivery system. Everybody has a right to express views but not at the cost of unity of the country. Political leaders of the state have to control their wording while expressing their views over 35A. No one on the earth can break relation and accession of J&K state with India.
BJP leader said one should not encourage `political militancy’ because our state is already worst sufferer and political leaders should own this responsibility that they have to work within framework of the constitution and should not use any language which can be detrimental for the unity, brotherhood and peace of the state.
Meanwhile, J&K High Court Bar Association president BS Slathia in his address in a meeting of general house at Count’s conference hall today thanked all the members of the Bar Association, Jammu who stood like a rock with the Association and office bearers in the turbulent times when malicious, vicious and smear campaign was going against the Association and civil society of Jammu.
Referring to Article 35-A of the Indian Constitution, Slathia stated that the Presidential Order can’t be an Article of Indian Constitution. He emphasized to abolish Article 35-A to establish gender equality.
Expressing grave concern over the insistence of certain leaders in Kashmir, including separatists, that Article 35-A should not be abolished, Slathia asked to defeat those who oppose gender equality, equality of status between the people of J&K and their fellow Indians, grant of citizenship to refugees from Pakistan living in Jammu since 1947 and mislead the people of Kashmir by saying that the issue of accession will be reopened, if Article 35-A was repealed.
“It would be a misnomer to term 35-A as an Article of the Indian Constitution. It is not an Article; it was a Presidential Order inserted in an appendix of the Indian Constitution on May 14, 1954 and without taking the Parliament into confidence or invoking Article 368 of the Indian Constitution. No provision in the Constitution of India can be added or deleted, without amending the Constitution. Indeed, 35-A was an aberration and negation of the Preamble of the Indian Constitution, which stands for equality of status for all in the country and also provides for equal opportunities for all across the nation,” said JKHCBAJ president.
Slathia said it was unfortunate that lakhs of refugees from Pakistan and the Valmiki Samaj were deprived of citizenship because of this unconstitutional 35-A. He asserted that Jammu region is the only region in the world which houses several lakh refugees, who do not have the natural right to life, right to property, right to vote, right to state government jobs and right to bank loan etc. etc. He expressed solidarity with the daughters of J&K married outside J&K to non-Permanent residents of J&K whose children and spouses do not enjoy any citizenship right in J&K.
“35-A makes unjust and humiliating distinctions between the male and female residents of J&K and renders refugees from Pakistan and members of the Valmiki Samaj living in Jammu since the long time and their human rights are being ruthlessly violated by 35-A,” he added.
He added that JKHCBAJ would adopt all means to defeat the votaries of 35-A and ensure the deportation of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis from Jammu.
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