STATE TO UNION TERRITORIES

35 A-370
JAMMU &KASHMIR

After India got Independence ,we had a huge task of Integration princely states into the Dominion of India .3 states who were initially reluctant to join India were : Princely states of Junagarh, Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir.

Let us  now Discuss the incorporation of Article 370 and Article 35A in the Indian Constitution .
This is a well known fact that state of J&K has given Special Status by our Constitution ,however many of us are still not aware out of all the states in India why only Jammu&Kashmir been entitled as one?

In Oct 1947,Pakistan  broke the stand still agreement .Pakistan invaded Kashmir from the North with an army of soldiers are tribesman armed with modern weapons . Jammu &Kashmir was under serious threat. When it became impossible for Hari Singh to control the troops,J&K requested India for Military Aid . India agreed to help subject to a condition that J&k  have to accede in India . J&K  agreed to accede to India .

*Therefore, on 26 th October 1954 ,Agreement was signed between Jawaharlal Nehru and Hari Singh ,known as Instrument of Accession.

*Pakistan contested the IOA as forced and fraudulent.

*India went to United Nation ,complaining against Pakistan aggression on the soil of India and clearing it of Pakistan invaders.

*As a result of which ,security council adopted a resolution for formation of United Nation Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) in January 1948.

* A report was submitted by UNICP ,on 7 July 1948,stating that Pakistan invaded Jammu &Kashmir and declared Pakistan an 'aggressor'.

. Later, United Nations instructed Pakistan clear off the area of nationals and asked India to keep minimum force in Jammu &Kashmir for the maintenance  of law and order in the state.
. In July 1949, India and Pakistan signed the Karachi Agreement establishing the ceasefire line.
.Military front was established between India &Pakistan which gradually became a solid boundary which is know as Line of Control.

INSTRUMENT OF ACCESSION;

Jammu &Kashmir surrendered only three subjects to the union i.e. defence ,external affairs and communications.Also earned the assurance that  the people of J&K through their own constituent assembly would draft  their own constitution .Also it was said that provisions(allowing people of kashmir to draft their own constitution) is an interim arrangement provided by the constitution of India .

.As this pact stated that J&K will be provided with special status ,is because of these two added clauses as well  i.e.-
Article 370 was Incorporated in part XXI  i.e. Temporary,Transitional &Special Provision of the Constitution of India.

Article 370 provides Special Status to  Jammu &Kashmir ,states -
1. It gives Special Status to Jammu &Kashmir
2.It restricts  state legislature power over four heads:

*Defence
*Communication
*External Affairs
*Currency

3.If central has to take certain steps excepts that four departments, they will require assent of state legislature of J&K.

ARTICLE -35A-

The Presidential order was issued under Article 370(1)(d) of the Constitution which allows the president to make certain "expectations of modification"to the Constitution for the benefits of "state subjects"of the J&K.Article 35A was debated for more than five months in Constituent Assembly before it was made part of constitution.

TEXT OF ARTICLE 35A STATES -
a)Give the rights of defining the term 'Permanent Residence ' to the State Legislature .
*Any person who is state subject on May 14,1954; or
*Who has been resident of the state for 10 years and has lawfully  acquired the immovable property.

b)Conferring of other special privileges to the resident to non- residents, such as:
.Employment
.Acquisition of immovable property
.Settlement in state
.Right to scholarship or any rights as conferred by State Government.
.J&K formulated its Constitution  in November 1956.

On 5August 2019, the Home Minsiter Amit Shah introduced the J&K Reorganization Bill in the Raj Sabha to convert J&K status of a state to two separate Union Territories , namely Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladhak. Next day the bill passed to Lok Sabha .The bill become an ACT after it was signed by President.

The two  Union Territories came into existence on 31st October ,2019.which is celebrated as a National Unity Day.

















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































v

Ayodhya Verdict : A Controversial Judgement ?

Ayodhya judgement was noted for it begin long drawn and was found to be driven with lot of emotions and religious sentiments coming into play ,with episodes where any bit of coherence was almost impossible to find. This movement that was motivated with the concept of Ram Janmabhoomi at the forefront sparked with the demolishment of the Babri Masjid in 1922 was labelled to be an embodiment of the "annexations propaganda of faith"and this judgement was noted for it begin long -rightly so.

In 16th century ,the Babri Masjid was built during the reign of the Mughal Emperor , Babur. It was locally believed that Babur's Generals demolished a temple that existed in that  site before the Masjid was constructed.

Many academicians have argued that local traditions, tales and other beliefs should not be taken into consideration while a decision was made with regards to important matters of land acquisition like this.

The Masjid was unlawfully demolished by the Kar Sevaks in December ,1992, based on the above mentioned local belief.

The local belief regarding Lord Ram's birth place, was upheld by a 3-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court in 2010.The High Court had given judgement to an equal partition of the site occupied by the demolished Masjid .

In the subsequent year, upon appeals by the Sunni Wafq Board and multiple other parties to the case appealed to the Supreme Court Allahabad High Court's order was subsequently stayed.

It was fixed by the end of 2017 that February 2018 would mark the commencement of the final hearing on this case. Another interesting aspect of the case was the importance it laid on documents in Persian and Arabic form 16th century  which provide to be the few sources of information with regards to the occupants of the site which has been a topic of dispute for the more than 2 decades now.

Charting a Timeline:

• 16th century - Construction of Babri masjid

• In 1994, there was a contention raised before the with regards to the acquisition of land in and around Babri Masjid.it was subsequently ruled by the apex court that Mosques were not essential or integral to Islamic religious practises. It was also added that Namaz could offer even in the open and that it was not necessary that it had to the open and that it was not necessary that it had to be in a mosque.

• In 2010 , it was decided by the Allahabad High Court in a 2010 ruling that the land was to be divided into 3 parts and this done in a bid to settle this land title dispute case. However, this decision was not welcomed  by the parties involved in the Ram Mandir -Babri Masjid Case and hence was further appealed before the Supreme Court to reach finality with regards to the issue at hand.This appeal before the Supreme Court was heard by a 3-judge bench headed by Ex Chief Justice  of India (CJI),Dipak Mishra and the issues discussed in the 1994 ruling ,spout up,once again.

The Appellant parties to the case requested the case to be referred to a larger bench in order to reconsider the 1994 ruling .However ,this request was not taken into consideration and was refused by the Supreme court .In support to this stand taken by the supreme court, they mentioned that 1994 ruling was not to influence the land title dispute as the later was mainly in the context of acquisition of the land and nothing more.

It also found that the proposal to build a Ram Mandir at the Ayodhya site was an important promise made by BJP in their election manifesto .whatever the decision of the Supreme Court was to be ,it was predicted that it would be quite decisive in either providing or not providing sufficient support to the building of the Ram Mandir at the specified site.

The 2010 decision of the Allahabad High Court which voted for a tripartite division of the land under dispute was not satisfactory to all the parties .The whole dispute boils down to one single question as to whether the Babri Masjid was built over a temple which was previously dedicated to Lord Ram.

Ayodhya case in the Supreme Court's 2019 Landmark Judgement  and is also the 2nd longest hearing ever went for 40 days .

Rapid Action Force Personnel have been deployed in the state to prevent any out break of violence .Prohibitory orders  have been issued in Ayodhya considering the safety and security of Ayodhya Section 144 in The Code of Criminal procedure ,1973 which is power to issue order in urgent cases of nuisance of apprehended danger.

The Archaeological Survey of India did not say anything  the demolition or about a Ram Temple .It only said something have been found which resemble the temple of Northern India.

The final judgement in the Supreme court was declared on 9 November 2019,the land was handed to the Ram temple.It also ordered the government to give 5 acres of land inside Ayodhya city limits to sunni waqf Board for building a Mosque.

Citizen and Constitution

A citizen of a state is the one who enjoys full civil and political rights conferred by the Constitution .A citizen is a subject of state .The social contract that many political thinkers have talked about ,exist between a citizen & the state .States and the citizen are duty bound towards each other .

Citizenship -A citizen enjoy privileges in a certain dominion with respect to the governing state of that dominion .The basis of this treatment is his / her full time membership in a political community or the State.this membership is known as citizenship and by its virtue only, a citizen begets rights & duties .Provisions of citizenship have been laid in part II of  the constitution of India .

Citizenship in general is available to only natural persons and not Incorporated entities like a company or partnership firm etc.

Domicile:in simplest sense, domicile is a place where you have been living .generally,domicile of a person said to be in that country where he either has or is deemed by law to have his permanent house.

Now coming to the features of Citizenship ,as provide under the constitution.

FEATURES:

*Following are the features of Citizenship of India:

Source: Citizenship in India is not only based upon constitutional provisions but on parliament 's  legislation too.

Part 2 of the Indian Constitution provides for the recognition Citizenship of people.This provision is only consider with citizenship of people at the time of commencement of Constitution.

Article 11 of the same  part confers powers upon the parliament to make laws with regard to citizenship in future . Parliament of India has enacted Citizenship Act in 1955, in exercise of power under this article .This Act contains the very basic provisions regarding citizenship of person ,beyond the date of commencement of constitution.

Thus,for complete understanding regarding law related to citizenship ,we need to learn both,the constitutional provisions and the Act of 1955.

Article 9- persons voluntarily acquiring citizenship of a foreign state not be citizen.

No person shall be a citizen of India by virtue of article 5 ,or be deemed to be citizen of India by virtue of article 6 or article 8,if he has voluntarily acquired the citizenship of any foreign state.

The question as to whether  a person has lost his citizenship of India and has acquired citizenship of foreign country has to determined by central government (government of India).It is only when Central Government has decided this question , a state government can deal with a person as a foreigner.

It may be that a passport from a foreign government is obtained by a citizen and the case falls under the impungnment rule, the conclusion may follow that he  has acquired the citizenship of a foreign state .but this conclusion must be drawn by an appropriate authority authored under the Citizenship Act ,1955 to inquire the question.

The constitution does not prohibits parliament from allowing dual citizenship,or conferring upon a foreign  citizen, Indian citizenship or any such thing .Parliament of India holds unlimited powers with respect to that.

This bring us to the next feature of Citizenship in India.

Citizenship once acquired exists as a right of citizens,which cannot be otherwise taken away.of course, ultimate powers rest with Parliament and it can  terminate citizenship of any citizen through law,but it has to be done through a valid act of parliament .nothing less than that can affect the status of a person as a citizen .This has been provided under  Article 10 as follows:

10.Every person who is or is deemed to be a Citizen of India under any of the foreign provisions of this part shall,subject to the provision of any law that may be made by Parliament ,continue to be such citizen.

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FULL DISCUSSION DETAILS ABOUT THE OBJECTIVE ,SOLUTIONS AND PROBLEMS OF CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT BILL,2019- CAB 2019.

The main purpose of Citizenship Amendment Bill,2019 is to amend the Citizenship Act 1955 and ease out the process of migration for:-

6 Communities :Hindus ,Sikhs ,Buddhist ,Janis ,Parsis

Christian belonging from

3 Countries :- Pakistan,Afghanistan  and Bangladesh.

Many things should be taken notice of while understanding the impact of Citizenship Amendment Bill,2019- CAB 2019, example-NRC,migration laws,Refugee laws,protests in North East State of India ,Assam Accord ,etc.

NRC-Election Promises maser in Assam,West Bengal& Bihar included that the "outsiders' shall be evicted.

NRC conducted .31st August 2019 final list published.

The religion of person who could not prove their citizenship included both Hindus & Muslims.

Subsequently ,The Citizenship(Amendment ) Bill,2019 was introduced in LokSabha by Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Amit Shah ,on December 9 ,2019.The bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act,1955.it includes-

1. Exception to the definition of "illegal migrants"[Section 2(1)(b)] as-"Provided that any person belonging to Hindu,Sikh,Buddhist ,Jain,Parsis or Christian  community from Afghanistan,Bangladesh or Pakistan,who entered into India on or before the 31st day of December,2014 who has been exempted by the Central Government by or under clause (c)of sub-section(2)of section 3 of the Passport (Entry into India)Act,1920 or from the application of the provision of the Foreigners Act,1964 or any rule or ordered made  there under,shall not be treated as illegal migrant for 

Limitations on the basis of Religion AND place of Origin

2.Section 6 B added with regard to illegal migrants Section[2(1)(b)].

6 B.(1) The Central Government  or an authority specified by it in this behalf may, subject to such conditions,restrictions and manner as may be  prescribed, on an application made in this behalf of naturalization to a person referred to in the proviso to clause (b)of sub-section (1)of section 2.

(2) Subject to fulfillment of the conditions specified in section 5 or the qualifications for naturalization under the provisions of the Third Schedule ,a person granted the certificate of registration or certificate of naturalization under sub-section(1)shall be deemed to be citizen of India from the date of his entry into India.

(4)Nothing in this section shall apply to tribal area of Assam ,Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tirpura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and the area covered "The Inner Line " notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873.

3. Section 18(2)(eei) added which grants power to central govt,to make  rules regarding "the conditions,restrictions and manner for granting certificate of registration and manner for granting certificate of registration or certificate of naturalism under sub section (1)of section 6 B,".

Following provision has been added -

"provided that for the person belonging to Hindu,Sikh,Buddhist, Jain,Paris or Christian community in Afghanistan,Bangladesh or Pakistan ,the aggregate period of residence or service of Government in India as required under this clause  shall be read as "not less than five years"in place of "not less than eleven years".