Article 370 Case Hearing : Live Updates From Supreme Court [Day 10]

SG Mehta: The drafting committee wanted to make it clear that though India was a federation, the federation was not a result of an agreement by the States to join in a federation. Thus, no state had the right to secede from it.

SG Mehta: Description of Art 1 in the draft constitution is a "Union of States". The correct phraseology should be a "federation of states"...the use of the word Union is deliberate.

CJI: Mr SG, to paraphrase your submissions, it can be two fold- 1. The expression of reservations in IoA not unique to the IoA acceded to by Maharaja Hari Singh? 2. The execution of merger agreement was not a sine qua non to become a part of UOI.

CJI asks for a list of states that joined the Union of India without a merger agreement and still became a part of the Union.

SG Mehta: But from the date on which Constitution of India came into force and Article 1 came into force, they became integral part of Union of India. How J&K got seperated will come...

SG Mehta: There was an argument that instrument of merger was a necessary attribute for a complete integration, otherwise, states had internal sovereignty. Many states didn't sign the instrument of merger!

CJI: We gave this option to the princely rulers that you come here on your own terms. We are not telling you to come on our terms.

CJI: So the point you're making for now is that the IoA of various princely states contained reservations. We have seen in regards to taxation, land acquisition, not binding themselves to accepting a future constitution.

CJI: That was probably the genius of Sardar Patel, there is no doubt about it. But the fact remains that insofar as J&K is concerned, J&K went to the 370 route

SG: But why, how, and till what time will come subsequently.

SG: All princely states subsumed themselves with the Union of India because of the Act of State doctrine and because of Article 363 and Article 1.

CJI: They came into Indian union as a volition. They joined voluntarily.