Refugees from West Pakistan challenge Art 35A in SC
September 10, 2017  09:27
Some refugees from West Pakistan, who had migrated to India during Partition in 1947, have moved the Supreme Court challenging Article 35A of the Constitution relating to special rights and privileges of permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir.  

The petition said there were around 3 lakh refugees from West Pakistan but those settled in Jammu and Kashmir have been denied the rights guaranteed under Article 35A which are given to the original residents of the state.  

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud tagged the plea of the refugees, who are settled in the Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir, with similar matters pending before it.  

The apex court had, on the request of Jammu and Kashmir government, posted the matters challenging Article 35A for hearing after Diwali holidays. 

Article 35A, which was added to the Constitution by a Presidential Order in 1954, accords special rights and privileges to citizens of Jammu and Kashmir. 

It also empowers the state's legislature to frame any law without attracting a challenge on grounds of violating the Right to Equality of people from other states or any other right under the Indian Constitution.
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