SC likely to hear today a batch of petitions challenging validity of Article 35A

Supreme Court is likely to hear today a batch of petitions challenging the validity of Article 35A, which guarantees special privileges to Jammu and Kashmir. 

The state government has filed an application before the Registrar of the apex court, informing that it is going to seek adjournment of the hearing of the petition in view of the ongoing preparations for the upcoming panchayat and urban local body and municipal elections. 

The main petition demanding scrapping of the Article



35A was filed in 2014 by Delhi-based NGO 'We the Citizens'. Chetan Sharma, convener of the J&K chapter of the NGO told reporters that they will seek hearing of its plea by a Constitution bench. 

Article 35A, which was added to the Constitution by a 1954 Presidential Order, accords special rights and privileges to the permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir and denies property rights to a native woman who marries a person from outside the state.