Special status to J&K: SC seeks Centre’s response

New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir government on a plea challenging the validity of the Article 370 of the Constitution that gives special status to the state.

A bench of Chief Justice J.S. Khehar, Justice A.K. Goel and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked the Centre and the state to file response on an appeal filed by one Kumari Vijayalakshmi Jha against a Delhi High Court order.

Jha argued that Article 370 was a temporary provision that had lapsed with the dissolution of the state’s Constituent Assembly in 1957.

Continuance of temporary provision of the Article 370, which had never got the assent or approval of the President or Parliament, on matters like citizenship, amounted to a fraud on the basic structure of the Constitution.

The plea said that the special status to the state was against the nation’s sovereignty, integrity and unity.

In April, a High Court bench of Justices G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath had dismissed Jha’s plea following which the petitioner moved the apex court.