Article 370: Supreme Court rejects petition asking for declaring the controversial provision as temporary status

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the petition to declare the Article 730 as temporary provision, saying that this article of the Constitution that confers special status on Jammu and Kashmir and limits the Central government’s power to make laws for the state had permanent status through years of existence.

A Supreme Court bench of Justices Adarsh K Goel and R F Nariman made this observation on a petition by Kumari Vijayalakshmi Jha who sought the court to declare as a temporary provision. She contended that the provision lapsed with the dissolution of the J&K Constituent Assembly on January 26, 1957. She also sought a declaration that the constitution of J&K was void, inoperative and in breach of the Constitution.

However, the bench observed that it is not a temporary provision. The court said "The issue concerned is covered by the judgment of this court in the 2017 SARFAESI matter, where we have held that despite the headnote of Article 370, it is not a temporary provision".

The issue has gained political overtones as there is a stark divergence between the views of BJP and its ally PDP in J&K. The discussion over the issue also comes at a time when residency laws for J&K under Article 35A of the Constitution have been challenged for denying women marrying outside the state the right of inheritance and restricted employment.

Justice Nariman referred to SC’s 2017 judgment in State Bank of India vs Santosh Gupta case and said the controversy over Article 370 was settled by the court ruling the provision had acquired permanent space in the Constitution and it could not be abrogated.