In 5 Points: What is Article 35A of the Constitution of India?

Article 35A: The main petition demanding scrapping of the Article 35A was filed before the apex court in 2014 by Delhi-based NGO 'We the Citizens'.

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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court is likely to hear PIL's challenging Article 35A this week. The PIL had challenged the validity of Article 35-A of the Constitution that grants special privileges to the residents of the state. The crucial hearing, which could be listed from February 26 to February 28, assumes significance in view of the toughening stand of the state-based political parties on the sensitive issue.

What is Article 35A ?

1. Article 35-A, which was incorporated in the Constitution by a 1954 Presidential Order, accords special rights and privileges to the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir.
2. The article 35A empowers the state legislature to define the state’s “permanent residents” and their special rights and privileges.
3. Only the permanent citizens can own property, obtain job within Jammu and Kashmir Government and vote in the local elections.
4. It denies property rights to a woman who marries a person from outside the state.
5. The provision, which leads such women from the state to forfeit their right over property, also applies to their heirs.

The bench is hearing several petitions including the one filed by NGO 'We the Citizens' through lawyer Barun Kumar Sinha. On August 6 last year, the apex court had said a three-judge bench would decide whether the pleas challenging Article 35A should be referred to a five-judge constitution bench for examining the larger issue of alleged violation of the doctrine of basic structure of the Constitution. Several applications, including by political parties such as the National Conference and the CPI-M, were also filed in the Supreme Court in support of Article 35A, which also empowers the state assembly to define "permanent residents" to bestow special rights and privileges to them. Besides the NGO, the other petitioners on the matter are  West Pakistan Refugees Action Committee Cell 1947, Dr Charu Wali Khanna, Kali Dass, Radhika Gill and Major Ramesh Upadhyay. There are apprehensions, among sections of Kashmiris, that if the law is repealed or diluted, outsiders would be settled in Jammu and Kashmir. The government and the top court, on the other hand, are treading rather cautiously in dealing with the sensitive issue.