The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned the hearing on petitions challenging the Constitutional validity of Article 35A till January 2019. Article 35A grants special rights and privileges to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir.
Attorney General K K Venugopal and Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed a Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, that in view of the impending eight-phased local body elections and viewing the law and order situation in the state, the hearing should be postponed to next year.
The Court agreed on hearing the petitions challenging Article 35A in the second week of January.
Jammu and Kashmir government had earlier approached the SC seeking an adjournment of August 31 hearing in view of upcoming local body elections in the state. In a letter to the Registrar of the Supreme Court, the standing counsel for the state sought an adjournment of hearing on five petitions, which were scheduled for today. The apex court is hearing a bunch of petitions in the matter which includes the one filed by NGO, ‘We the Citizens’ seeking quelling of article 35A.
Article 35A, which was incorporated in the Constitution by a 1954 Presidential Order, accords special rights and privileges to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir and bars people from outside the state from acquiring any immovable property. The article also denies property rights to women who marry those from outside the state.
