New Delhi:The Supreme Court today asked the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir Government to respond to a petition challenging the validity of Article 370 of the Constitution that confers special status on the state.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court today asked the Centre and the Jammu and Kashmir Government to respond to a petition challenging the validity of Article 370 of the Constitution that confers special status on the state.

Petitioner Kumari Vijayalakshmi Jha has challenged an April 2017 order of the Delhi High Court rejecting her petition against Article 370. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar today asked the Centre and the PDP-BJP government to file their replies in four weeks.

The SC has already issued notices on some other petitions challenging the validity of Article 35A of the Constitution. Added to the constitution through a Presidential order of 1954, Article 35A empowers the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly to define the state’s permanent residents and their special rights and privileges.

The Delhi High Court had on April 11 rejected the petition on the ground that the Supreme Court had already dismissed a petition on the issue. In July 2014, the Supreme Court had dismissed a petition challenging the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir and had asked the petitioner to move the High Court.

The petitioner’s counsel, Anil Kumar Jha, however, contended the issue before the High Court was different from the one before the apex court. The petitioner contended that Article 370 was a temporary provision that had lapsed in 1957 with the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly of the state.