The Supreme Court has disposed of a batch of petitions, challenging the constitutional validity of the Jammu and Kashmir Grant of Permit for Resettlement in (or Permanent Return) to the State Act, 1982.
The three-judge Bench of Justice Surya Kant, Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice NK Singh noted that the provisions of this Act never came into force, and that its operation was stayed by the Court by an order passed in 2002. Subsequently, it was repealed after the enactment of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
The Apex Court said there were four Tables appended to the Fifth Schedule of the Act. In Table-3, there was a list of state laws, including Governor’s Acts, which were repealed in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir; and the Union Territory of Ladakh.
The impugned Act was included at Serial Number 56 of Table-3. In this manner, the Impugned Act was repealed by virtue of Section 95(2) read with Section 96, along with Table-3 of the Fifth Schedule of the 2019 Act.
Since the Act already stood repealed, the very challenge to its constitutionality no longer survived, it added, and disposed of the writ petitions, which were pending since 1982.
The 1982 Act was enacted by the State Legislature of the erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir to allow individuals who were state subjects of the State before May 14, 1954, and who migrated to Pakistan after March 1, 1947, to return to the State of Jammu and Kashmir for permanent resettlement.
The Act further intended to extend this right to their descendants, spouses, and widows, regardless of whether they were ever Indian citizens or not, provided they applied for a permit and swore allegiance to the Constitutions of both India and Jammu & Kashmir.
Before the 1982 Act became a legislation, the President, in exercise of the powers un
The post Supreme Court dismisses pleas challenging Jammu and Kashmir Grant of Permit for Resettlement to the State Act 1982 appeared first on India Legal.