Article 370 Case : Live Updates From Supreme Court [Day 5]

Justice Kaul: They utilised the machinery or 370 to remove whatever was left in 370. That is what has happened.

Justice Kaul: If that machinery was to be recreated, then 370 could be removed?

Shah: That machinery is the constituent assembly.

Shah: We might have different perceptions of it. If we don't want 370, answer of this question would depend on- as on today, on 5th August 2019, was it temporary? Or had it become permanent- because the machinery was not available to remove it.

Justice Kaul: Saying that 370 is permanent is really difficult. Suppose the state itself says that we want all laws to apply. Then where does 370 goes? Then we really come back to the process. Was this process permissible of not?

Justice Kaul: All that must have been done with either consultation or in concurrence with State government?

Shah: I'm saying so. The flipside is that the state legislature lost power.

Shah: 370 says you can concur with the UOI and request them please apply this entry.

Shah: Who is doing it? It's the govt of the state which is doing it and taking the power of legislature of the State to legislate.

Shah: Gradually, the government has been chipping the power of the State legislature. My legislature, in 1950, had the total power of making laws except three subjects. But what happens subsequent to 370?

Shah: We need to go back in time. Without that, it's not possible to apply certain standards as we understand in 2023. This is a situation which has its roots in history. We need to understand how and why!

Shah: It says "the article ceases to be operative". So the president is given the power to deoperationalise the article.

Shah: The constitutional autonomy of the State is embedded in Article 370.