Srinagar
A three judge division bench led by Justice Deepak Mishra on Monday adjourned the petition challenging Article 35-A of the constitution of India by 12 weeks.
Sources said the petition was taken at 16:10 by the bench and was immediately adjourned. “Court has directed its listing after 12 weeks,” sources said.
Sources told Kashmir Life that Attorney General of India K K Venogopal pleaded before the bench that the since Government of India has appointed an interlocutor to talk to the people of Jammu & Kashmir, the case has the potential of hampering the process. He said the case can hamper the dialogue process and the Court should grant at least four months to respond to the petition.
The state in this case was represented by a battery of four senior lawyers. These included Fali S Narain, Rakesh Dewedi, KV Vishwanathan and Shekhar Nafdey. All the four lawyers, sources said, are leading constitutional experts in India.
Sources said that the law ministry of Jammu and Kashmir had taken the case very seriously. The law minister Abdul Haq Khan and senior officers of the law department were camping in New Delhi for last few days.
The attorney for the central government had sought four months adjournment in the case earlier.
J&K government and government of India are respondents in the case . Kashmir High Court Bar Association is attending the case as “observer” and is scheduled to move an application before the SC to become a party in the case.
In anticipation of the hearing of the case, Kashmir was quite restive. Various stakeholders had been talking on the subject and the separatists had asked people to get ready for an agitation in case the Article 35 A was fiddled with. Given the fact that Article 35 A involves the demography of the place, Kashmir, cutting across party lines and ideological differences, is against the idea of any intervention in this guarantee.
