New Delhi: Several petitions were filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking review of its December 11 verdict upholding the revocation of Article 370 of the Constitution that gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The petitioners include the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, Awami National Conference, Muzaffar Iqbal Khan and Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement. Muzaffar Shah of Awami National Conference said he has filed the petition seeking review of the verdict which held Article 370 was a temporary provision in the Constitution.
The review petition filed by Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association through advocate Dharmendra Kumar Sinha said the verdict has errors and there are sufficient grounds to review it. The petition said the verdict erroneously concluded that the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir lost its sovereignty after Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession (IOA) in 1947.
“It is submitted that the conclusion suffers from an error apparent on the face of records. Mere execution of IOA, without anything more, does not result in loss of total sovereignty,” it said.
The plea, while citing several other “erroneous conclusions”, said Article 370 was not a concession but the outcome of the act of State.
“The view of the court that Article 370 was declared to be temporary because of the conditions in the State, otherwise the State had fully integrated with the Union, is a finding, with respect, unsustainable…The view taken by the court therefore is clearly unsustainable and qualifies as an error apparent on face of record,” the review plea said.
On December 11, settling the decades-long debate over the contentious issue of Article 370 after a marathon 16-day hearing, the five-judge bench delivered three concurring judgements upholding abrogation of Article 370 that provided a unique status to J&K when it acceded to the Union of India in 1947. The Centre had abrogated Article 370 on August 5, 2019.
It held that the President of India was empowered to revoke the measure in the absence of the Constituent Assembly of the erstwhile state whose term expired in 1957.
Scrapping Article 370 was among the core issues of BJP’s agenda and had been consistently included in its election manifestos.
The apex court verdict was seen as a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
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