JKPC moves Indian Supreme Court challenging abrogation of Article 370

NEW DELHI: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court by the Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference (JKPC) challenging the revocation of Article 370 which granted a special status to Indian occupied Kashmir.

According to reports in the Indian media, JKPC has filed the petition seeking the President's Rule in the disputed valley be declared unconstitutional and void.

"The impugned Constitution Order (CO) 272, dated August 5, 2019, and the consequent CO 273, dated August 5, 2019, and the consequent CO 273, dated August 6, 2019, are unconstitutional as the 'concurrence' of the state government taken is unconstitutional and violative of articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India," it said.

Challenging the decision by the Indian government, the JKPC sought a direction to declare the state reorganisation act and the presidential orders as "unconstitutional and void".

The party said the state has been under President's Rule under Article 356 of the Constitution since June 2018, and routine decisions of the state government are taken by the governor, who himself is a delegate of the president under the presidential proclamation issued under Article 356 (1)(a).

"Therefore, concurrence of the state government provided by the governor, does not express the will of the people, as the governor is merely substituting for a popularly elected government, as an emergency measure under Article 356 of the Constitution.

"The imposition of the President's Rule for the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India was an illegal and unconstitutional exercise of Article 356 of the Constitution," it said.

Separately, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Indian Supreme Court against the illegal detention of children following the abrogation of Article 370 and an unprecedented lockdown in occupied Kashmir.

According to Kashmir Media Service, child rights expert, Enakshi Ganguly and first Chairperson of the National Commission for Child Rights (NCPCR) Professor Shanta Sinha filed the petition.

The petitioners have submitted that there have been certain reports specific to children, which describe violations that include loss of life and liberty and that the reports are serious enough to merit judicial review of the situation with respect to children and to enforce and monitor certain immediate corrective action.