Article 370 Petitioners Seek Transfer Of Case To Larger Bench

The petitioners challenging the abrogation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday urged the five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court to refer the case to a larger Bench. Appearing before the Constitution Bench led by Justice N.V. Ramana, senior advocate Dinesh Dwivedi, appearing for economist Prem Shankar Jha,, said there was a “direct conflict” of opinion between two judgments, one of 1959 and the other of 1970, about the nature and extent of Article 370.

The President’s notification on August 5 abrogated the special status of J&K by blunting Article 370, which sources the privileges accorded to the erstwhile State in accordance with the assurances which was made in the Instrument of Accession signed between the J&K ruler and the Government of India. However, the two past judgments, both by five-judge Benches of the Supreme Court, gave contradictory viewpoints on Article 370. 1959 one, Prem Nath Kaul versus State of Jammu and Kashmir, indicated that Article 370 was applicable only till the J&K Constitution was enacted on January 26, 1957. After that, no further changes could be made to the relationship between India and J&K.