NEW DELHI, Sept 13:
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court by the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference (JKPC) challenging the President’s Rule imposed in the State and abrogation of provisions of Article 370, which gave special status to the State.
The Sajjad Lone-led JKPC has filed the petition through its spokesperson Adnan Ashraf, seeking President’s Rule in the State be declared unconstitutional and void.
“The impugned Constitution Order (CO) 272, dated August 5, 2019, and the consequent CO 273, dated August 5, 2019, and the consequent CO 273, dated August 6, 2019, are unconstitutional as the ‘concurrence’ of the State Government taken is unconstitutional and violative of Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India,” the plea said.
A Presidential order paved the way for application of entire provisions of the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir, and also have the effect of nullifying Article 35A and completely abrogating Article 370.
The Presidential order on Article 370 of the Constitution was issued pursuant to the concurrence of the Jammu and Kashmir Government, despite “there being no popularly elected government” in the State, the plea said.
“The impugned order CO 272 issued by the President under Article 370 (1) of the Constitution has been issued pursuant to the ‘concurrence’ of the Government of Jammu and Kashmir, despite there being no popularly elected Government in Jammu and Kashmir, under the provisions of the Constitution, and it is an affront on the Constitution of India and a blatant attack on the federal nature of the Indian Constitution,” it said.
While challenging the Centre’s decisions to scrap provisions of the Article 370 that accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and dividing it into two Union Territories, the JKPC sought a direction to declare the State reorganization act and the presidential orders as “unconstitutional and void”.
The party said the State has been under President’s Rule under Article 356 of the Constitution since June 2018, and routine decisions of the State Government are taken by the Governor, who himself is a delegate of the President under the Presidential proclamation issued under Article 356 (1)(a).
“Therefore, concurrence of the State Government provided by the Governor, does not express the will of the people, as the Governor is merely substituting for a popularly elected Government, as an emergency measure under Article 356 of the Constitution.
“The imposition of the President’s Rule for the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India was an illegal and unconstitutional exercise of Article 356 of the Constitution,” it said.(PTI)
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