Constituiton Archives - Lokmarg

Change Constitution If You Have Guts: Omar Abdullah Amid India-Bharat Row

By LokMarg 8th September 2023

As controversy has erupted on the ‘Bharat-India’ name, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Friday challenged the Centre to ‘change’ the Constitution first if they have ‘guts’.

Talking to the reporters here, the NC leader said nobody will support the union government if it will change the Constitution to rename the country.

“Nobody can change it… It is not so easy to change the name of the country. To do this, you will have to change the Constitution of the country. If you have the guts, then do it, we will also see who supports you…,” Omar Abdullah said.

Speculations have gained ground that the Centre might change the name of the country to Bharat from India after Rashtrapati Bhawan sent out invitations for a G20 dinner on September 9 on behalf of the ‘President of Bharat’.

The opposition alleged that the government was resorting to “drama” just because they got together and called their bloc INDIA. BJP leaders have strongly supported the move by the government.

National Conference (NC) patriarch Farooq Abdullah also commented on the same on Friday and said, “Read the Constitution first; it is mentioned there that Bharat and India are one. You (media) create controversy.”

However, the Ladakh administration announced a new schedule for elections to the fifth Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) in the Kargil region, following a directive by the Supreme Court, Omar Abdullah said that his party is now looking forward to getting the support of the people in the region after the verdict.

“It is unfortunate that we had to fight for the thing that was our right as a political party. Election guidelines are very clear about the allocation of the symbol. Clearly, the administration and Ladakh had a biased agenda which is why they went all the way to the Supreme Court. But if you read the verdict, particularly the detailed judgement and the imposition of Rs 1 lakh on Ladakh administration is itself an indication how seriously the court viewed the conduct of Ladakh government,” the NC leader said.

As per the notification, elections to 26 seats of the 30-member LAHDC will be held on October 4. The LAHDC Kargil had come into effect in 2003.

As per the previous notification the Union Territory of Ladakh had announced that elections to the LAHDC were scheduled to be held on September 10 and counting to be held on September 14.

According to the new notification, the process for filing nominations will start on September 9 and the last date for filing nominations is September 16. The last date for withdrawing nominations has been fixed on September 20, it said.

The counting of votes will take place on October 8.

“Voting will be held between 8 am to 4 pm,” it said.

The notification further said that the entire election process should be completed before October 11.

The Supreme Court Wednesday set aside the August 2 notification issued by the Ladakh administration for elections to LAHDC and directed that a fresh notification be issued within seven days.

The bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanulla imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the Ladakh administration and also dismissed its appeal against an August 14 order of a division bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court which had upheld an interim order by a single-judge bench for grant of the ‘Plough’ poll symbol to the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC). (ANI)

SC Reserves Judgement On Pleas Challenging Abrogation Of Article 370

By LokMarg 5th September 2023

The Constitution bench of the Supreme Court has reserved its verdict on a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories.

Five-judge Constitution bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, and Surya Kant reserves the judgement after hearing the arguments for 16 days.

The bench granted three days time to parties to file written notes on their submissions in the case.

The Central government has defended its decision of abrogation of Article 370 saying there was no “constitutional fraud” in repealing the provision that accorded special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Attorney General R Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for Centre.

Centre told the bench that Jammu and Kashmir was not the only State whose accession to India was through instruments of accession but many other princely States that too had joined India, post-independence in 1947, with conditionalities and after their merger their sovereignty was subsumed in the sovereignty of India.

Of the 565 princely States at the time of independence in 1947, the majority of them were in Gujarat and many had conditions relating to taxes, land acquisition and other issues, the Central government told the bench.

Centre also submitted that the status of Jammu and Kashmir as a Union Territory is only temporary and it will be restored to Statehood, however, Ladakh would remain a Union Territory.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing on behalf of the petitioners, opened the arguments by saying Article 370 was no longer a “temporary provision” and it had assumed permanence post the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir.

He contended that the Parliament could not have declared itself to be the legislature of J-K in order to facilitate the abrogation of Article 370 as Article 354 of the Constitution does not authorise such an exercise of power.

Highlighting that the express terms of clause 3 of Article 370 show that a recommendation from the Constituent Assembly was essential to remove Article 370, Sibal argued that in the wake of the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly whose recommendation was required to abrogate Article 370, the provision could not be revoked.

Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association has told the Supreme Court that while acceding to India, the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir acceded his sovereignty over the territory of the State but not his sovereign power to rule and govern the State.

Accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India was territorial and except for defence, external affairs and communication, rest all the powers were retained with the State to make laws and govern, said senior advocate ZA Zafar appearing for J-K High Court Bar association.

The Central government has defended its decision to abrogate Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir saying post the changes, street violence, which was engineered and orchestrated by terrorists and secessionist networks has now become a thing of the past.

Since 2019, when Article 370 was abrogated, the entire region has witnessed an “unprecedented era of peace, progress and prosperity”, Centre said.

After the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir life has returned to normalcy there after three decades of turmoil, the Centre in its affidavit told the Supreme Court.

It has been said that schools, colleges and universities have been functioning without any strikes during the last three years.

The Constitution bench was hearing a batch of petitions challenging the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcating the state into two Union Territories.

A number of petitions were filed in the top court including those of private individuals, lawyers, activists politicians and political parties challenging the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which splits Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

On August 5, 2019, the Central government announced the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir granted under Article 370 and split the region into two Union territories. (ANI)

UCC Should Be Implemented For Hindu Religion First: Elangovan

By LokMarg 27th June 2023

Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s emphasis on having a Uniform Civil Code in the country, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader TKS Elangovan on Tuesday said that it should first be implemented for the Hindu religion.

“Uniform Civil Code should be first introduced in the Hindu religion. Every person including Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes should be allowed to perform pooja in any temple in the country,” Elangovan said.
“We don’t want UCC only because the Constitution has given protection to every religion,” he said.

Earlier today, PM Modi said that the country cannot run on two laws and that Uniform Civil Code was part of the Constitution.

“Today people are being instigated in the name of UCC. How can the country run on two (laws)? The Constitution also talks of equal rights…Supreme Court has also asked to implement UCC. These (Opposition) people are playing vote bank politics,” he said.

It is noteworthy that Part 4, Article 44 of the Indian Constitution, corresponds with Directive Principles of State Policy, making it mandatory for the State to provide its citizens with a uniform civil code (UCC) throughout the territory of India.

After flagging off five Vande Bharat Express trains on Tuesday morning, PM Modi addressed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) booth workers in Bhopal.

“Will a family function if there are two different sets of rules for people? Then how will a country run? Our Constitution too guarantees equal rights to all people,” PM Modi said in Bhopal today while addressing party workers under the BJP’s “Mera Booth Sabse Majboot” campaign.

The Prime Minister further said that people are being instigated in the name of the Uniform Civil Code.

“The Muslim brothers and sisters of India have to understand which political parties are taking political advantage of them by provoking them. We are seeing that work is being done to incite such people in the name of UCC,” he further said.

He said that appeasement politics had left many people behind, including the Pasmanda Muslims.

“Pasmanda Muslims have become a victim of politics. Some people are using the politics of appeasement to break the country. The BJP cadre should go and explain this to the Muslims and educate them so that they do not fall victim to such politics”, PM Modi said.

“If they were supportive of Muslims the Muslim brothers would not be poor or deprived…Supreme Court has also asked for the implementation of the UCC. But these people are hungry only for vote bank,” Modi said accusing the Opposition in the country of employing vote-bank politics of appeasement. (ANI)