JK Govt seeks adjournment of Art 35A hearing

Srinagar: As the Article 35-A case is listed between Feb 12-14 at Supreme Court (SC), the state government on Monday sought the adjournment of the hearing into the case.
Standing Counsel for the state of Jammu and Kashmir, Advocate on record M Shoeb Alam submitted the application for adjournment before Registrar General of Supreme of India.
Alam in a letter said that “the state will be seeking adjournment in the matters on account that since there is presently no elected government in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and the State is under President’s Rule.”
“The present matter involves a sensitive issue regarding a challenge to Article 35A of the Constitution of India. A short reply has been filed by the State of Jammu and Kashmir in the lead matter (We The Citizens) and notices have not been issued in the other petitions. It will therefore be requested that the matter may kindly be heard when an elected government is in place,” it reads.
“The letter may Kindly be circulated to the Hon’ble judges so as to avoid inconvenience to them, “it adds. Earlier in August, the SC had adjourned the hearing on a bunch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Article 35A till January 2019.
The Jammu and Kashmir government had sought adjournment of the hearing Article 35A in the view of upcoming local body elections in the state.
The matter was listed before a Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud. The state government had written a letter to the Registrar of the Supreme Court on August 29. Jammu and Kashmir government’s standing counsel M Shoeb Alam had argued in the letter a hearing on Article 35A may impact holding of upcoming local body elections in the state.
NTPC to curtail power supply to JK from Feb 18 midnight for payment default
New Delhi: State-owned power giant NTPC will regulate power supply to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) from February 18 midnight for not clearing outstanding dues of more than Rs 1,600 crore.
On February 5, the company had also issued similar notices to discoms in Telangana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to regulate power, as the states had as much as Rs 4,138.39 crore outstanding dues for over 60 days. But those notices were later put in abeyance after assurances to make payments.
In a notice issued to J&K, the company has said that as much as Rs 1,626.01 crore is due for over 60 days and according to the power regulator CERC’s guidelines, generators can serve notice for regulation of power to defaulters.
J&K can lose supply of 939.03 megawatts of power supply from NTPC’s plants including Dadri, Koldam, Farakka, Auraiya, Rihand and Unchahar.
The NTPC notice said the power would be regulated from 00:00 hours of February 19.
It said: “In case of outstanding dues or in case the required letter of credit or any other agreed payment security mechanism is not maintained as per the agreement, the generating company may serve a notice for regulation of power supply on the defaulting entity, for reducing the drawl schedule.”