Supreme Court refuses to entertain fresh plea against Article 370

•  The Supreme Court has refused to entertain a fresh petition on Article 370, which gives special autonomous status to Jammu and Kashmir, and said that the issues raised in it were already part of the pending pleas.

About Petition:

• The petition sought a declaration that Article 370 of the Constitution had lapsed with the dissolution of constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir on January 26, 1957 and it cannot be treated as mandatory for exercise of powers of the President.
• The plea has also sought that the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir be declared as “arbitrary, unconstitutional and void”, claiming that it was against the supremacy of the Indian Constitution and contrary to the dictum of “One Nation, One Constitution, One National Anthem and One National Flag”.

About Article 370:

• According to the Constitution of India, Article 370 provides temporary provisions to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, granting it special autonomy.
• The article says that the provisions of Article 238, which was omitted from the Constitution in 1956 when Indian states were reorganised, shall not apply to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Dr BR Ambedkar, the principal drafter of the Indian Constitution, had refused to draft Article 370.
• In 1949, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had directed Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah to consult Ambedkar (then law minister) to prepare the draft of a suitable article to be included in the Constitution.
• Article 370 was eventually drafted by Gopalaswami Ayyangar. Ayyangar was a minister without portfolio in the first Union Cabinet of India. He was also a former Diwan to Maharajah Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir
• Article 370 is drafted in Amendment of the Constitution section, in Part XXI, under Temporary and Transitional Provisions.
• It vests the executive powers of the state in the governor appointed by the president for the period of five years.
• Under the original constitution of the state, the Chief of the State was "Sadar-e-Riyasat" (President) and Chief of the government was "Wazir-e-Azam" (Chief Minister). In the year 1965, they were nominated as governors and Chief Minister respectively.
• Since 1964, the President rule has been introduced in the state. Earlier, in the situation of the failure of the state administration, only governor's rule used to impose here.
• “Urdu” will be the official language of the state whereas English can also be use for the official work.
• It lays down the procedure for its amendment; it can be amended by a bill passed in each house of the State Legislature by a majority of two thirds of the total membership of that house.

By: Vishal