Democracy provisions
If J&K is an integral part of India, then surely there have to be provisions of the democratically elected government of the country… DY Chandrachud, CJI
The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed surprise over an argument that once the Constitution of J&K came into existence in 1957, Article 370 ceased to exist and only governing document became the Constitution of the erstwhile state. “The net consequence will be that the application of the Constitution of India will be frozen to the state of Jammu & Kashmir after 1957. How can that be accepted?” a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud wondered.
“If J&K is an integral part of India, then surely there have to be provisions of the democratically elected government of the country… There are no provisions in the Indian Constitution which bar its applicability to the J&K, if your contention is taken,” the CJI told senior counsel Dinesh Dwivedi, who represented some of the petitioners.
On the eighth day of the hearing on petitions challenging nullification of Article 370, as the Bench expressed surprise over his arguments, Dwivedi said, “I don’t feel there would be any adverse consequences. That was the intent of the framers (of the Constitution). They felt that Kashmiris may feel differently but they never imposed that… Still, they allowed them to make a constitution.”
Referring to Narasimha Gopalaswami Ayyangar’s speech in the Constituent Assembly, Dwivedi said, “The debates clearly say that this was an interim arrangement till the Constituent Assembly was made.”
“We cannot read portions of the debate and come to this conclusion. You need to read the full context. In a debate there are statements and replies to questions,” Justice Khanna told Dwivedi.
Several other senior advocates – CU Singh, Prashanto Chandra Sen, Sanjay Parikh and Nitya Ramakrishnan also made submissions. The arguments would resume on Wednesday.
