Former Article 35A

Former Article 35A derived its constitutional authority from the special mechanism then contained in Article 370. It was inserted through a Presidential Order applying the Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir, rather than through a Constitution Amendment Act enacted by Parliament.

Constitutional route

Under Article 370(1)(d), the President could apply other provisions of the Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir with specified exceptions and modifications. Exercising this power with the concurrence of the state government, the President issued the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954, also designated C.O. 48.

• The 1954 Order inserted Article 35A after Article 35 in the constitutional text as applied to Jammu and Kashmir.
• Its immediate legal source was therefore a Presidential Order under Article 370, not the parliamentary amendment procedure under Article 368.

Purpose of the inserted provision

Article 35A empowered the Jammu and Kashmir legislature to define the state's permanent residents and confer special rights upon them concerning public employment, acquisition of immovable property, settlement, scholarships and other state aid. It also protected such laws from being declared void merely because they restricted rights otherwise available to other Indian citizens under the specified fundamental-rights provisions.

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