The non-residents of Jammu and Kashmir have been deprived of the constitutional rights as per Article 35A, said the Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud.
“Employment in the state government, right to buy land and equality of opportunity — all this article were snatched away because the residents of Jammu and Kashmir had special rights, the non-residents were excluded, ” said the CJI.
He harmonized with the central government that said the Indian Constitution as mere a document that is ” On a higher platform than the J&K Constitution “.
This comes after the 11th hearing on the petitions against the scrapping of Article 370. This Article provided special status to J&K.
Article 35A was also scrapped along with Article 370 in 2019, that defined the “permanent residents” of the formerly called state. The article also provided special rights to the residents.
“There is a direct right under Article 16(1) which was taken away was employment under the state government. Employment under the State Government is specifically provided under Article 16(1). So while on the one hand Article 16(1) was preserved, on the other hand, Article 35A directly took away that fundamental right and was protected from any challenge on this ground,” said CJP Chandrachud.
Meanwhile, the central government has always tried to defend its move saying that the scrapping of Article 370 has given a level playing field to the people of J&K along with the rest of the country.
