Abrogation of Art 370 now fait accompli, should be accepted: Centre

No question can be raised on total integration of J&K’

Dailyexcelsior:The abrogation of the provisions of Article 370, which granted special status to erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir, has now become a “fait accompli” leaving sole option to accept the change, the Centre told the Supreme Court today.

Vehemently opposing the contention that Jammu and Kashmir was not integrated with India, the Centre told the top court if that was the case, then there would not have been a need for Article 370.

It opposed reference of a batch of pleas, challenging the Constitutional validity of the Centre’s decision of August 5 last year to abrogate provisions of Article 370, to a larger seven-Judge Bench.

A five-Judge Constitution bench headed by Justice N V Ramana reserved its verdict on the question of referring the issue to a larger bench and said it would pass a detailed order in this regard.

NGO People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association and an intervener had sought referring the matter to a larger bench of seven-Judges.

They have sought reference on the ground that two judgements of Apex Court — Prem Nath Kaul versus Jammu and Kashmir in 1959 and Sampat Prakash versus Jammu and Kashmir in 1970 — which dealt with the issue of Article 370 are in direct conflict each other and therefore the current bench of five judges could not hear the issue.