NEW DELHI: The difference between the accession of other princely states and Jammu and Kashmir is that the latter “bucked the trend” and followed the Article 370 route, the SC remarked on Thursday as it sought from the Centre a list of states that joined the Union of India without a merger agreement.
“The only difference was that this constitutional history led to the ultimate integration in every sense for the other states. They did not follow the Article 370 route. For J&K, the Constitution decided to go for Article 370. Other states merged completely,” the bench said.
The five-judge bench hearing pleas challenging the abrogation of Article 370 on the tenth day on Thursday, also said that the government could not justify the “means” used to abrogate Article 370 from the Constitution by simply pointing to the “ends” achieved.
Pointing out the object of Article 370, which was to aid the constitutional integration process of the Union with J&K along the same lines as it happened with other princely states, AG R Venkataramani said its continued existence could not be seen as a distortion of its original purpose.