The Supreme Court has reserved its verdict on referring the issue to a larger bench. (Photo Credit: File )
New Delhi :
The abrogation of the provisions of Article 370, which granted special status to erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir, has now become a "fait accompli" leaving sole option to accept the change, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Thursday. Vehemently opposing the contention that Jammu and Kashmir was not integrated with India, the Centre told the top court if that was the case, then there would not have been a need for Article 370.
It opposed reference of a batch of pleas, challenging the constitutional validity of the Centre's decision of August 5 last year to abrogate provisions of Article 370, to a larger seven-judge bench. A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice NV Ramana reserved its verdict on the question of referring the issue to a larger bench and said it would pass a detailed order in this regard. NGO People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association and an intervenor had sought referring the matter to a larger bench of seven-judges.
They have sought reference on the ground that two judgements of apex court—Prem Nath Kaul versus Jammu and Kashmir in 1959 and Sampat Prakash versus Jammu and Kashmir in 1970 -- which dealt with the issue of Article 370 are in direct conflict each other and therefore the current bench of five judges could not hear the issue.
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Attorney General KK Venugopal, appearing for the Centre told the bench—also comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, R Subhash Reddy, BR Gavai and Surya Kant—that "the abrogation of provisions of Article 370, has now become a "fait accompli" leaving sole option to accept the change". He said the events which transpired prior to the notification of August 5 and August 6, 2019 are of no significance.
"The arguments of other side that no integration of Jammu and Kashmir had taken place, no standstill agreement or merger documents between Jammu and Kashmir and India were executed, are of no use. If the integration of Jammu and Kashmir had not taken place then there is no place for Article 370," Venugopal said.
He referred to a book, 'The Story of the Integration of the Indian States', written by VP Menon who was secretary to India's first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, and said that Instrument of Accession signed by Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir shows that "sovereignty of Jammu and Kashmir was only temporary. We are a union of states".
Venugopal referred to the history of Jammu and Kashmir and said that Hari Singh had signed a standstill agreement with Pakistan, which later violated and sent 300 trucks of tribesman trained by Pakistani Army to attack Kashmir. It was only after that, to secure himself and the state, he had signed the Instrument of Accession with India and subsequently the Indian army pushed back those tribesman.
