Kashmir constitutional history and documents - Book Review

By: Mohan Krishen Teng

Ram Krishen Kaul Bhatt

Santosh Kaul

Publisher: Light and Life publishers, Sept 1977

The Book presents the original documentary sources, both official and non-official, pertaining to the growth of the political institutions and the related constitutional cover the most stormy and the turbulent period of the modern history of most stormy and the turbulent period of the modern history of Kashmir and bring to light original sources in regard to the Kashmir and bring to light original sources in regard to the administrative structures established by the Dogras and the frames of political control they devised, the constitutional instruments they evolved for the government of the state and the incredible operation of the British colonial organisation in the India. The documents also bring to surface, considerable fact and data in regard to the freedom movement in the state, the evolution of the responsible government, the transfer of power in India and the political convulsions which struck the state in aftermath of Indian independence.

The papers selected for the present volume have been compiled with a view to facilitate in depth studies in the constitutional history of the state and also presents the readers with ready reference of other relevant sources. Since researches and investigations in the various aspects of the constitutional development of the state, are still to be undertaken, the relevance of the present state, are still to be undertaken, the relevance of the present study is obvious. Most of the documents have been collected from the from the papers presented in the British parliament, printed in the government gazette and published by the government of the India, or in the government of Kashmir, from time to time. Some of the papers have been collected from the archives of the different political organizations which were involved in the politics of the state. Considerable care has been taken to preserve the substantive content of the documents edited for this volume. The documents included in this volume pertains to:

1 the Dogras administrative system

2 the operation of paramountcy

3 the evolution of the responsible government in the state

4 the transfer of power in India and the accession of the state to the Indian union

5 the constituent assembly of the state, and

6 the constitution of the state.

A special feature of the volume is that a comprehensive survey of the constitutional history is included in it and thw reader is provided with a clear perspective of the different trends, the politics in the state assumed. Efforts have been made to present a coherent and conjointed account of the various developments in the state within which the reader can conveniently place the related documentary sources . the authors have attempted to analyse the situational compulsions which lead to various political changes in the state interpret the judicial processes devised from time to time and locate the directions, the evolution of the various political institutions took. No study of this type has been undertaken in regard to the government and politics of the state so far and to that extent the present study is expected to fill a long felt gap in the history of the state.