Supreme Court of India has given a historic decision on the petitions filed against the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir. A five-member Constitution bench of the Supreme Court has upheld the government’s decision to abrogate Article 370.
While giving the decision, the Supreme Court said that the Center has the right to remove Article 370. The Court has also ordered that assembly elections should be held in Jammu and Kashmir by September 2024.
While hearing the petition filed against the decision to remove Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, Supreme Court Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud said that the provision of Article 370 was made in view of the situation that arose after the war. . This is temporary and could be changed. The court said that the Central Government has taken a decision to repeal it as per the procedure.
“We have held that the state of Jammu and Kashmir did not retain an element of sovereignty when it joined the Union of India. We have arrived at this conclusion for the following reasons. First paragraph eight of the instrument of acession executed by Maharaja Hari Singh provided that nothing in the instrument would affect the continuance of the sovereignty of the Maharaja in and over the state,” CJI Chandrachud said.
The apex Court said, “The declaration issued by the President exercises the power and clause 3 of Article 370 is a culmination of the process of integration. Thus, we do not find that the President’s exercise of power under Clause 3 of Article 370 was malafide. We hold the exercise of Presidential Power to be valid.”
Apart from this, the court said that the Election Commission should conduct elections in Jammu and Kashmir by September this year. Also, the Supreme Court said that Jammu and Kashmir should be given statehood again as soon as possible.
Home Minister Amit Shah welcomed Supreme Court of India’s verdict upholding the decision to abolish Article370.In a post on X, he wrote, on the 5th of August 2019, PM narendramodi Ji took a visionary decision to abrogate #Article370. Since then peace and normalcy have returned to J&K. Growth and development have brought new meaning to human life in the valley once torn by violence.
Prosperity in the tourism and agriculture sectors has raised the income levels of the residents of both Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. Today, the Supreme Court’s verdict has proved that the decision to abrogate Article370 was completely constitutional.