New Delhi, November 17, 2018 (PPI-OT): The Supreme Court of India has said that it will hear in April a plea challenging the validity of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir. A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah said that it would hear the matter in the first week of April 2019 after Attorney General, K K Venugopal, appearing for the Indian government, sought adjournment on the ground that the current situation of Kashmir was very sensitive.
Senior Advocate Rakesh Dwivedi and advocate Shoaib Aalam, appearing for Jammu and Kashmir, said that a letter has been circulated seeking adjournment due to the ongoing nine-phase Panchayat polls in the territory. To this, the bench said it can tag the matter along with a batch of pending petitions challenging Article 35-A of the Constitution. Article 35-A grants special rights and privileges to the permanent residents of the territory.
The counsels for the territory opposed the suggestion of the bench, saying the two issues are different entirely and the plea should not be tagged along with Article 35-A pending petitions. The bench then posted the matter for further hearing in first week of April, 2019.
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