Article 370 was meant to be 'temporary' provision in Constitution: Amit Shah

The now-scrapped Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was meant to be a “temporary” provision since the beginning and the framers of the Constitution had put it there “intelligently”, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on May 15.

The now-scrapped Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, was meant to be a "temporary" provision since the beginning and the framers of the Constitution had put it there "intelligently", Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on May 15.

Inaugurating a training programme on legislative drafting, Mr. Shah also said that if a legislation is drafted well, there is "no need for any court to give any explanation to any law".

“If the drafting is simple and clear, it will also be easier to educate people about the law with minimal chances of errors by the executive,” he said and added that if “grey areas” are left in the drafting, they will lead to “encroachment” in interpretation. Mr. Shah said if the drafting is complete and lucid, its interpretation will also be clear.

Referring to Article 370, which the BJP government at the Centre repealed in 2019, the Home Minister said the whole country wanted that the provision of the Constitution should not be in existence.

He also highlighted that when the Article was framed, it was mentioned in the index as "Temporary Provision of Article 370". Even debates on the Article were missing from the records of constituent Assembly debates, Mr. Shah said and added that they were not printed.

Mr. Shah said it could well be imagined that whoever had drafted it and those who were part of the constituent Assembly, how intelligently they put it and how after lots of thought the "temporary" word was inserted.