Article 370 dead as dodo

Article 370 dead as dodo

A temporary article of Indian Constitution which people of India always wanted to be removed has been finally altered in such a way that supremacy of Indian Constitution has been restored. Article which was placed in the part 21 of the constitution named originally "temporary and transitional provisions" was having marginal note of "temporary provision" but survived for more than 7 decades and hijacked the power of parliament due to its provisions. While President of India under oath bound to preserve, protect and defend the Indian Constitution but some controversial exception, modification and addition were done through the Presidential Order 1954 as applicable to Jammu and Kashmir. Now as the Supremacy of Indian Constitution has been restored by President as per the resolution of Indian Parliament so article 370 as an impediment to "One Nation, one Constitution" goes away.

Days after the issuance of an order that effectively rendered Article 370 of the Constitution redundant, the President of India has formally declared the removal of this provision, which had signified the special autonomy granted to the State of Jammu and Kashmir.

The notification issued today, signed off by President Shri Ram Nath Kovind,  states,

"In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (3) of article 370 read with clause (1) of article 370 of the Constitution of India, the President, on the recommendation of Parliament, is pleased to declare that, as from the 6th August, 2019, all clauses of the said article 370 shall cease to be operative except the following which shall be read as under, namely:- 

'370, All provisions of this Constitution, as amended from time to time, without any modification or exceptions, shall apply to the State of Jammu and Kashmir notwithstanding anything contrary constrained in article 152 or article 308 or any other article of this Constitution or any other provision of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir or any law, document, judgment, ordinance, order, by-law, regulation, notification, custom or usage having the force of law in the territory of India, or any other instrument, treaty or agreement as envisaged under article 383 or otherwise.'"


The first step to the removal of Article 370 came on Monday, when Home Minister of India in Rajya Sabha introduced The Constitution (Application to Jammu & Kashmir) Order, 2019, to supersede the Constitution (Application to Jammu & Kashmir) Order, 1954. 


Presidential Order 2019 introduced on Monday provided that all provisions of the Constitution of India will apply to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, with a few exceptions and modifications. This meant Article 35A was also removed. The Order was passed invoking with the President's power under Article 370(3), which had stated,

"Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this article, the President may, by public notification, declare that this article shall cease to be operative or shall be operative only with such exceptions and modifications and from such date as he may specify: Provided that the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State referred to in clause ( 2 ) shall be necessary before the President issues such a notification."

The annulment of the 1954 Order also paved the way for the Centre to introduce the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization Bill, 2019, to declare Jammu and Kashmir as a separate Union Territory with  a Legislature. Further, the Bill also provides for making Ladakh a Union Territory without a Legislature. The Bill was introduced and passed in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. On Tuesday, the Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha.

All these have have paved the way for Supremacy of Constitution and which means now onward there is no separate constitution for Jammu and Kashmir, No Permanent Resident, No Article 35A which was discriminatory in nature, no hijacking of power of Parliament by a single state in constitutional amendment and no statement in central laws like " This act is applicable to whole of India except state of Jammu and Kashmir"

Temporary article 370 still exist in the Constitution of India book but now redundant and dead as dodo.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

100 Questions on Indian Constitution for UPSC 2020 Pre Exam

भारतीय संविधान से संबंधित 100 महत्वपूर्ण प्रश्न उतर

संविधान की प्रमुख विशेषताओं का उल्लेख | Characteristics of the Constitution of India