Article 370 and the Constitutional Status of Jammu and Kashmir: Issues and Challenges

Article 370 of the Constitution of India, enacted as a provisional and transitory article, laid out the constitutional relationship between the former State of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union of India for more than seventy years. The objective of this paper is to trace the history of that relationship from the date of accession in 1947 until the abrogation of the special status of the State in August 2019 and further restructuring of the State into two Union Territories. Specifically, it analyses the judgement of the Supreme Court in In Re: Article 370 of the Constitution (2023), which validated the abrogation of Article 370, and highlights the constitutional and federal questions left unanswered, such as the correctness of modifying Article 370(3) through Article 367 of the Constitution, the impact of the judgement on asymmetrical federalism and the question of restoring statehood of the region. Legal validity does not necessarily mean constitutional propriety.