NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday announced that Article 370 which grants special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir will be scrapped.During his address, the home minister described how the government has the power to revoke Article 370.Section 3 of Article 370 listed in the Constitution of India states — “Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this article, the President may, by public notification, declare that this article shall cease to be operative or shall be operative only with such exceptions and modifications and from such date as he may specify: Provided that the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State referred to in clause (2) shall be necessary before the President issues such a notification.”Thus, Section 3 clearly states that the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State is “necessary” for President to issue such notification. There is no Constituent Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir. However, for all practical purposes, state assembly used to function as the Constituent Assembly. But, in case there is no state assembly, the power of the assembly is automatically transferred to Parliament, i.e. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.Since the state assembly in J&K was suspended in November last year and governor’s rule was subsequently imposed, it paved the way for the Union government to circumvent the “necessary” clause, which calls for the recommendation of the state assembly for any changes to be made in Article 370, which can mean its revocation also.In the absence of the state assembly, the Parliament is now directly responsible for all the laws to be amended/implemented in the state. Since there is no functioning assembly in J&K, the Parliament is fully empowered to modify/scrap Article 370, Shah said.During his address to the Rajya Sabha, the home minister defended his decision to scrap the Article, saying that the previous governments, too, had amended Article 370. “This is not the first time, Congress in 1952 and 1962 amended Article 370 through similar process. So instead of protesting please let me speak and have a discussion, all your doubts and misunderstandings will be cleared, I am ready to answer all your questions,” Shah said.