The Supreme Court on Friday deferred the hearing on a bunch of petitions challenging Article 35A of the Constitution as the Centre urged the court to take up matter after the Panchayat elections in the state.

The elections spread over eight phases will conclude in December.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud deferred the hearing till the second week of January as Attorney General K.K. Venugopal told the court that it was a sensitive issue and could have a bearing on the Panchayat polls.

He said paramilitary forces were in the state for the conduct of the election.

Pointing to the sensitivity of the issue, the Attorney General informed the court that there was a strike on Friday in the Kashmir Valley on the issue.

Section 35A, inserted in the Constitution in 1954 by way of a Presidential order, bars outsiders from settling in or buying immovable property in the state.