More #Hindutva buildup ....
A five-judge Constitution bench presided by Chief Justice of India, D Y Chandrachud. heard a batch of petitions. The Bench had reserved the judgment on September 5 after a marathon 16-day hearing.
The petitioners, besides arguing against the revocation of Article 370, also challenged the J&K Reorganization Act, which bifurcated the erstwhile state into Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.
"A wide spectrum of issues were discussed during the marathon 16-day hearing including the constitutional validity of the Centre’s August 5, 2019 decision to abrogate the provision, the validity of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act," a senior counsel said.
The petitioners also challenged imposition of Governor’s Rule in Jammu and Kashmir on June 20, 2018 and imposition of President’s rule in the erstwhile state on December 19, 2018 and its extension on July 3, 2019.
The hearing started on August 2 and over the period of 16 days, the apex court witnessed extensive arguments and discussions on the case from both sides. The counsels from petitioners' side argued for first nine days.
Attorney General of India R Venkataramani, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj were defending the decision.
Kapil Sibal, whose client is supporting retaining the Article 370 says, "All other states followed a uniform pattern of integration, other than Jammu and Kashmir...... Bilateralism is at the heart of the process...There can't be a unilateral act by the parliament. There is no silence in the constitution.
Sibal further said, "Article 370 has two colons, the rest are all semi-colons. The two colons reside in (d) and (3)."
On Sept 5th, in quite an interesting development Lok Sabha MP and a petitioner in the Supreme Court Mohammad Akbar Lone has filed an affidavit 'swearing allegiance' to the Indian Constitution following a directive of the Bench headed by CJI D Y Chandrachud on Sept 4.
The National Conference leader is the lead petitioner challenging the scrapping of Article 370.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta dragged 'petitioner' Mohammad Akbar Lone into 'allegiance' gambit and said "he should file affidavit that I owe allegiance to Constitution of India".
Mehta said the petitioner Mohammad Akbar Lone should also state in affidavit that -- "I strongly oppose terrorism and secesionism in J&K".
Last week, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told Lok Sabha --- “We had been saying since 1950 that a country should have only one PM, one flag and one Constitution and not two and we have done it (removed the error)".
Making a brief intervention in the Lower House of Parliament on Dec 5th, Shah said certain remarks from Trinamool Congress MP, Saugata Roy vis-a-vis Jammu and Kashmir were “objectionable”.
Shah said, “Whosoever did it (two flags etc) was wrong. Narendra Modi has corrected it. Your approval or disagreement do not matter. The entire country wanted it.”
This comment was made in reference to the abrogation of provisions of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. The House was debating the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill.
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