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Commencing their arguments in support of abrogation of Article 370 in the Supreme Court, the Centre’s top law officers have asserted there was no “constitutional fraud” in annulling the provision that accorded special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, which heard their contentions at length, told them they will have to justify the procedure adopted for abrogation as the court cannot postulate a situation “where the ends justify the means”.
The petitioners opposing the repeal of Article 370 have been insisting that the provision could not have been abrogated, as the term of the Jammu and Kashmir Constituent Assembly, whose concurrence was required before taking such a step, ended in 1957, after it had drafted the erstwhile state’s Constitution. With the constituent assembly having become extinct, Article 370 acquired a permanent status, they have said.
