Scrapping of Article 370 challenged in Supreme Court

A day after the Narendra Modi government scrapped the Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, the presidential order to this effect was challenged in the Supreme Court by a lawyer on Tuesday.

Advocate M.L. Sharma, in his petition filed in the top court, claimed that the Presidential order was "illegal" as it was passed without taking consent from the state assembly.

It remains to be seen whether the apex court would agree to hear the petition.

In 2016, a two-judge top court bench of (Retired) Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman had held that the provision had over the years acquired permanent space in the Constitution and could not be abrogated now.

“Though the marginal note refers to Article 370 as only a temporary provision, it is in fact in current usage and will continue to be in force until the specified event in sub-clause (3) of the said Article takes place,” the court had then held.

The government on Monday revoked Article 370 to take away Jammu and Kashmir's special status, and proposed the bifurcation of the state into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, a bold and far-reaching decision that seeks to redraw the map and future of a region at the centre of a protracted militancy movement.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced the decision in the Rajya Sabha, which approved both the resolution and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation bill.