Supreme Court Of India – ‘Removal of Article 370 is constitutionally valid, Jammu and Kashmir will be governed by the Constitution of India’. Today the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has given its verdict on the decision of the Central Government to remove Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. The Court has said that the decision of August 5, 2019 was valid and it was for the integration of Jammu and Kashmir.
Article 370 was a special article of the Indian Constitution that provided special rights to Jammu and Kashmir compared to other states in India. some of there special rights are:-
- The laws governing citizenship, property ownership and fundamental rights of residents of Jammu and Kashmir differ from those of residents of the rest of India.
- Due to 370, Kashmir had their own flag
- Under Article 370, citizens of other states of India cannot buy property in Jammu and Kashmir.
- Due to Article 370, Jammu and Kashmir did not follow the constitution of India and had its separate constitution.
- Due to Article 370, If a girl from Jammu and Kashmir marries a person from any other state, her state citizenship is lost.
- Due to this special status, Article 356 of the Constitution was not applicable to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. For this reason the President of India did not have the right to abrogate the constitution of the state.
- Due to Article 370, Jammu and Kashmir had a separate flag. Along with this, the tenure of the Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir was for 6 years.
- The President of India could not impose economic emergency in Jammu and Kashmir because of Article 370.
Article 370 was incorporated in the Constitution of India on 17th August, 1949. The Constitution of India was different from that of Jammu and Kashmir. Under this, the state government had the right to prepare its own constitution. Also, if the Parliament had to bring any law in the state, then it had to take the approval of the state government.