The Supreme Court on Monday held that Article 370 is a temporary provision considering the historical context in which it was included.
Pronouncing the verdict on a batch of pleas challenging abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud said that Article 370 was introduced to serve two purposes.
First, it served the transitional purpose providing for an interim arrangement until the Constituent Assembly of the State was formed and could take a decision on the legislative competence of the Union on matters other than the ones stipulated in the Instrument of Accession, and ratify the Constitution.
Second, a temporary purpose making an interim arrangement in view of the special circumstances because of the war conditions in the state.
CJI Chandrachud said, “We have held that a textual reading of Article 370 also indicates that it is a temporary provision.
“For this purpose, we have referred to the placement of the provision in Part XXI of the Constitution which deals with temporary and transitional provisions, the marginal note of the provision which states ‘temporary provisions with respect to the State of Jammu and Kashmir’, and a reading of Articles 370 and 1 by which the State became an integral part of India upon the adoption of the Constitution.”
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