The Supreme Court on Friday deferred hearing of the petition challenging the constitutional validity of Article 35A till the second week of January 2019.
The SC said it would take up the matter after the Panchayat polls in the state had concluded in December 2018.
Stating that the government of India argued before SC that the hearing should be postponed till Panchayat elections are over as there may be law & order problem in J&K, Advocate DK Dubey said, “Court agreed that it will hear the petitions after Panchayat elections are over.”
Under Article 35 A, Indian citizens, other than the state subjects of Jammu and Kashmir, cannot acquire immovable property, get state government jobs, avail state-sponsored scholarship schemes or have the voting rights in the militancy-infested state.
Several political parties have filed intervention petition in the Supreme Court in the case.
National Conference has hired a senior advocate and former attorney general of India Gopal Subramaniam to represent the party’s intervention plea in the petition challenging Article 35-A in the Supreme Court.
Protests have been held across the length and breadth of Kashmir over the past few days with mainstream parties like the National Conference and PDP also holding rallies in support of continuing Article 35-A.
Political parties including the National Conference and the CPI-M, have moved the Supreme Court in support of the Article 35A that empowers the state assembly to define “permanent residents” for bestowing special rights and privileges to them.
