Politically, it is a good thing that a temporary provision in India’s Constitution (Article 370) has ceased to be operative. The decision has been upheld on December 11, in three judgments (one main and two concurring) of the Constitution Bench of five judges of the Supreme Court: It has facilitated a complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir into the Union of India. If that was all that had happened, the unanimous judgment would have been and should have been welcomed. But this is not all that happened.
What was actually done by the Centre was, in my view, not according to the provisions of the Constitution, nor in accordance with well-settled principles of federalism, a basic feature of the Constitution as was held in a 1994 judgment of a Constitution Bench of nine judges.
This story was originally published in indianexpress.com. Read the full story here .
