Supreme Court to hear petitions challenging Article 35A today

The Supreme Court is slated to hear the petitions challenging Article 35A, relating to special rights and privileges of permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir, on Monday.
The main petition filed by “We the Citizens” group is listed at serial no. 59 in the supplementary cause list before the apex court.
The matter is sensitive in nature, particularly in the Kashmir valley, where the separatists today urged the people to launch a mass agitation if the Supreme Court delivers a verdict against the interests and aspiration of people of the state. The Kashmir Bar has already deputed a team of lawyers, headed by its president to New Delhi, who will be present in the apex court as “spectators.”
As far as legal technicalities are concerned, the main petition challenging Article 35A has already crossed the admission stage and is now slated for hearing.
The J&K Government has filed its response while arguing that the points raised by the petitioner already stand settled by earlier benches of the apex court.
The NDA government has so far preferred not to respond to the petition and has thus avoided taking any legal position on the matter. However, outside the court the BJP and RSS’ public stand is abrogation of Articles 35A and 370 that give the special status to J&K.
The Supreme Court is yet to take its decision on petitions, including the pleas by Kashmiri-origin woman Charu Wali Khanna, West Pak refugees and senior Congress leader Tariq Karra. They have prayed for inclusion in the matter as “interveners.”
While the Jammu Bar Association has already expressed its intent to be a party to the matter, the Kashmir Bar Association is ready with its application but so far not filed it.
“There are many possibilities. The apex court on Monday may decide to include all petitions as interveners and decide to hear them all. The bench may also dismiss the petitions, including the main one and decide not to refer it to a larger five-judge constitution bench, even though earlier the Supreme Court had favoured referring it to a larger bench in case the Article is ultra vires the Constitution or if there is any procedural lapse,” a lawyer, who is aware of the case told Kashmir Post.
There is also the possibility that the case may not be heard at all as the main petition is listed at serial no. 59 in the supplementary cause list, which is taken up usually after all cases in the regular list are heard, he said.