KL NEWS NETWORK
SRINAGAR
Days after State High Court observed that Article 370 is a permanent provision of the Constitution and it cannot be abrogated, repealed or even amended as mechanism provided under Clause (3) of Article 370 is no more available, the Supreme Court of India Friday maintained that only the Parliament of India can take a call on scrapping Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Supreme Court observed that Article 370 of the Constitution can be scrapped only by the Parliament.
Article 370 provides “special status” to the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
The double bench comprising Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justice Amitava Roy responded to the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by B P Yadav who is a lawyer as well as a BJP activist from Andhra Pradesh. He submitted that the matter of Article 370 is to be decided by Supreme Court. But the Court rejected the plea on the ground that the power on said issue vests with the Parliament. The petitioner also contended before the Court to validate and extend all the Indian laws to Jammu and Kashmir as well.
The Supreme Court gave its decision few days after the observation made by the High Court of J & K where it stated that Article 370 is considered to be a permanent provision giving special status to J & K. The Apex Court, therefore, refused to scrap Article 370 from the Constitution and held that this Court cannot issue such an order. The Court also said that it cannot issue a directive even to the Parliament to remove the provision from the statute book.
The petitioner further made the argument that to reach a final decision, the Supreme Court should interfere in the mater. The Court in reply said that the Court can struck down a provision as ultra vires the Constitution but cannot insist the Parliament to remove a provision from the Constitution. (CNS)
