Article 35-A Likely To Come Up For Hearing After August 30

Srinagar: Article 35-A might come up for hearing in the Supreme Court after August 30 as there is no mention of the petitions challenging the legislation in regular cause list of the apex court till August 30.

A source said the regular cause list of the apex court makes no mention of Article 35A for hearing.

However, he said it might be taken up in the supplementary list. The list is yet to be made public.

The Supreme Court Monday adjourned till last week of August the hearing on petitions challenging the validity of Article 35A that empowers the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution to define “permanent residents” of the state and provide special rights to them.

Article 35A bars outsiders from buying immovable property in the state.

A non-governmental organisation, We the Citizens, filed a petitioned in the apex Court in 2014 to abolish the law on the grounds that it was “unconstitutional”.

There are apprehensions, amongst sections of Kashmiris, that if the law is repealed or diluted, outsiders would be settled in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) – an amalgam of separatist outfits – has called for shutdown on August 25 and 26 against the attempts to scrap Article- 35A.