Article 370, Can the clock be turned Back?
Omkar Dattatray
Much water has flown in the rivers Jhelum and Twai and since the abrogation of Article 370,many positive ,encouraging and developmental changes had taken place in Jammu and Kashmir .It is impractical and superfluous to turn the clock back and undone the annulling of controversial Article 370.The highest court of the country ,supreme court will decide on the constitutionality and legality of the abrogation of Article 370 and the scrapping of the Article 370 will stand the judicial scrutiny as the centre government had followed the legal and constitutional procedure to scrap Article 370 and integrate Jammu and Kashmir fully with India .Many significant changes had taken place in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir ever since 5TH August 2019 when the historical decision of abrogation of Article 370 was taken the centre government in national interest and for furthering the cause of national integration ,national development and above all to remove the superficial walls of mistrust and distrust and as well as to end the alienation of the people of J&K .Supreme court will not and cannot ignore and under look rather overlook the important and sweeping changes which had taken place in Jammu and Kashmir and it will decide this important cases taking the national interest in consideration .All the eyes are set on the outcome of 23 rite petitions filed in the apex court challenging the removal of Article 370 and the people hope that the highest court of the land will dispose these cases in such a manner as to help in the national integration and development and unity of the country .For the first time in the history of the independent India ,gross root democracy has taken roots and this is really a big development and change and it has ushered real democracy in Jammu and Kashmir .Spectacular economic development has taken place in the UT after the abrogation of Article 370.There has been unprecedented and phenomenal increase in the investment in various sectors of the J&K economy as huge investments from India and abroad has been attracted in Jammu and Kashmir and this is not an ordinary development but is of far reaching importance and has great ramification for the socio-economic and political development of J&K .Long years of discrimination with this erstwhile state has come to an end because of the deletion of Article 370 and it paved the way for a discrimination less Jammu and Kashmir whose residents are treated equally in legal ,social, economic and development spheres .All the central laws ,Indian Penal code and other legislations are now applicable to this part of the country .The gender discrimination has come to an end and now those women who marry outside the UT will not be deprived from the property and this ensures discrimination free society and also provides for equal treatment to the women flock in the ancestral property and the women have become equal partners in the political ,social and economic governance of the UT .There has been unprecedented tourist footfall from the last four years and this has led to a revolution in the tourism economy of Jammu and Kashmir .In the year 2022 crores of tourists have come to visit Jammu and Kashmir and this has significantly contributed to the tourist economy of Jammu and Kashmir and all the people who are directly and indirectly connected with tourist sector have gained substantially and this has led to the transformation of the tourist and general economy and the beneficiaries of all this development are the people of the UT who till four years ago were facing nerglect ,discrimination and all this because of the Article 370.Besides this there has been discernable change so for as the security situation is concerned .The hartals ,bandhs ,strikes are the things of the past .Stone pelting is now a history .There has been much decline in militancy ,separatism and terrorism and the terrorists are on the run .There is decrease in the terrorist violence and terror killings are on wane .In fact the terrorism is on the last leg and soon Jammu and Kashmir will be free from militancy and separatism .The genesis of all separatism ,militancy ,deprivation and alienation was Article 370 and with its abrogation these negative and anti national things have come down and their graph is decreasing day by day thank to the abrogation of Article 370.Peace,normalcy,security and development has fast returned to Jammu and Kashmir .Cinema halls are now open for the first time in the over three decades of militancy and this is a positive change and development .Besides the youth of J&K are now taking part in sports and many players are taking part in games at the national level and some have excelled in these games and competitions and many are taking part in Kheilo India programme of Modi .Youth of Jammu and Kashmir are being attracted towards games and sports and thus they are being weaned from drug addiction and other anti social activities .Youth are taking part in entertainment and amusement and this discourages drug addiction which is so important to the J&K society because drug addiction was on increase and with the annulling of Article 370,youth are taking part in sports ,games ,entertainments and amusements and the has significantly led to decrease in drug addiction cases .Young energies are being channelized towards productive and purposeful activities and this has a positive effect on the reduction of drug addiction cases .The historical G20 meeting was successfully held for first time in history in Jammu and Kashmir and this has been possible because of the abrogation of Article 370,and this is a feather in the cap of the LG/UT administration. A five –judge bench of the Supreme Court declined to stop the centre from carving out two centrally administered union territories out of Jammu and Kashmir ,telling the petitioners who challenged the scrapping of Article 370 that the top court could always ‘turn the clock back.’Three years after the central government did away with Article 370 ,experts weigh in on whether the action and method of doing it ,is legal .It becomes difficult to set the clock back if there is considerable delay in the disposal of petitions ,senior advocate Arvind Datar said .He said rolling back an executive decision becomes more and more difficult as the time passes .He said that there was nothing illegal the way Article 370 was abrogated .The fact is that Article 370 was a temporary provision and its annulment requires recommendation to do so by the constituent assembly of the erstwhile state .But since constituent assembly had long been abolished and in its place the recommendation of the legislative assembly of the state is mandatory .But the fact is that there is no state assembly from the last five years and the state has been downgraded and bifurcated into two union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and there is the LG as the head of the government and there is presidential rule and thus all legislative powers are with the LG and he has recommended and concurred with the abrogation of Article 370 and so the centre has taken the LG’s recommendations into consideration and the parliament has passed the resolutions in this regard and the president has put his seal on it and so constitution and law has been used in annulling the Article 370.Thus abrogation of Article 370 was done in accordance with the constitution and law and so there is nothing illegal or unconstitutional about the way Article 370 was abrogated .Now to cut a long story short ,it can be opined that the clock cannot be turned back and if the Supreme Court tries to do it ,it will be very dangerous as it has the potential ofcreating disintegration of this part of the country ,and so it will be in the interest of the nation if the clock is not turned back .Only time will tell which way the wind will blow and what will happen?
