Supreme Court defers validity hearing of Article 35A till January 2019

New Delhi: With the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir government citing law and order problem and local body elections till December, the Supreme Court on Friday deferred its hearing till January 2019, petitions challenging the validity of Article 35A of the Constitution. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud accepted the submissions of the attorney general K.K. Venugopal and additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta for Jammu and Kashmir government that any debate and discussion on Article 35A during the local body polls has direct repercussions on law and order in the state.

The ASG said if the local body polls are not held by December the funds release by the finance commission to the tune of  Rs 4,335 crore would lapse.  The AG said the hearing of this case at a time when elections are underway could have serious implications on the law and order situation. He said a large number of paramilitary forces are deployed in the state for the elections. If the court hears the matter now the law and order situation would be difficult to contain.    

The bench observed, “Let the elections take place. We are told there is law and order problem. List the petitions for hearing in the second week of January 2019.” the apex court bench said. Justice Chandrachud at the outset observed, “The court would not want to precipitate the matter ahead of the local body polls.”
When senior counsel Ranjit Kumar for one of the petitioners insisted on an urgent hearing, the CJI told him “The Article 35A was inserted in the Constitution in 1954 and you are approaching the court after 60 years. What is the hurry now? Ipso facto we cannot refer the matter to a Constitution Bench. We will have to first hear and decide.” 

The Bench was hearing a bunch of petitions in the matter, including the one filed by NGO ‘We the Citizens’ and Dr Charu Wali Khanna, seeking quashing of article 35A. Article 35A, which was incorporated in the Constitution by a 1954 Presidential Order, accords special rights and privileges to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir and denies property rights to women who marry those from outside the state.