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The implications of granting autonomy to J&K

A look at the implications of the State Autonomy Committee's report which the Jammu and Kashmir assembly adopted on Monday.

What is autonomy?

Autonomy for Jammu & Kashmir implies restoration of Article 370 in its original form.

What is Article 370?

This is a temporary article enshrined in the Constitution of India, which can be abrogated only through a mandate from the Constituent Assembly of the state. It took birth from the norms of the Instrument of Accession signed between Maharaja Hari Singh and Lord Louis Mountbatten, the first governor-general of free India. The instrument concedes only three subjects -- defence, foreign affairs and communications -- to the Government of India, while retaining all others as per the Delhi Agreement.

What is the Delhi Agreement?

After the Jammu and Kashmir Constituent Assembly took several important decisions, it had to receive the concurrence of the Government of India. Accordingly, representatives of both sides met and arrived at an agreement later known as the 'Delhi Agreement, 1952'.

What is the SAC report?

It is the State Autonomy Committee report, prepared by a committee headed by Housing Minister Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Shah. It recommended that the state be restored to its pre-1953 status and all subjects of governance, except defence, foreign affairs, currency and communication. It was tabled in the state assembly by Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah in April last year. It has recommended reverting to the Delhi Agreement.

What are the main features of the Delhi Agreement, 1952?

The salient features are:

1. Sovereignty in all matters other than those specified in the Instrument of Accession would reside with the state.
2. The state legislature was empowered to make laws conferring special rights and privileges on state subjects in view of the state subject notification of 1927 and 1932; the legislature was also empowered to make laws for state subjects who had gone to Pakistan on account of the communal disturbances of 1947, in the event of their return to Kashmir.
3. The Union government agreed that the state would have its own flag.
4. The state was to have a prime minister who would head the government instead of a chief minister and a sadr-i-riyasat instead of governor as head of state. The sadr-i-riyasat was to be elected by the state assembly instead of being a nominee of the President of India.
5. In view of the peculiar position in which the state was placed, the chapter relating to 'fundamental rights' in the Indian Constitution could not be made applicable to the state.
6. With regard to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India, it was accepted that for the time being, owing to the existence of the Board of Judicial Advisers in the state, the highest judicial authority, the Supreme Court should have only appellate jurisdiction.
7. The Government of India agreed to the modification of Article 352 (emergency powers) in its application to Kashmir by addition of the following words: "but in regard to internal disturbances at the request or with the concurrence of the government of the state".
8. Both the state government and the Government of India agreed that the application of Article 356 dealing with suspension of the state Constitution and Article 360, dealing with financial emergency, were not necessary.

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