In this regard, it has proposed that the ``matters in the Union list not connected with the three subjects of Defence, External Affairs and Communications, besides ancillary thereto, but made applicable, should be excluded from their application to the state''. Besides, some Articles of the Indian Constitution should be made non-applicable to the state as was the position in 1954.

The eight-member committee, under the chairmanship of works minister Ghulam Mohi-ud-din Shah, had presented its report in the Assembly on Tuesday. Copies of the report were released to the Press today.

Constituted by the National Conference (NC) on November 29, 1996, immediately after it assumed power in the state, the 184-page report also makesa reference to the misuse of Article 370 of the Constitution from time to time.

``Forty years of unconstitutional practice has created a mess,'' the report states, adding the best course is for the President to repeal all orders, which are ``not in conformity with the Constitution (Application to J-K) Order, 1950, and the terms of the Delhi Agreement of 1952''.

``Ever since Article 370 (designed to protect the state's autonomy) has acquired a dangerously ambiguous aspect, it has been used systematically to destroy it,'' it points out.

The committee has emphasised the need for a pact between the Union and the state which finalises their relationship by declaring a ``constitutional understanding'' that Article 370 and any other provisions of the Constitution of India beyond the ones extended under the 1950 Order and the Delhi Agreement of 1952 may no longer apply to J-K. ``This could be embodied in a new Article that specifies the agreement as part of the unamendable basic structure of the IndianConstitution,'' it says.

``To them must we return if popular sentiment is to be respected and resentments assuaged. It is first and foremost a moral issue. It also has important constitutional and political aspects,'' the committee has said.

It has stated that ``in the nature of things, redress can only be through another pact between the Union and the state. Once the basis principles are agreed, there will be a discussion on procedure''.

While suggesting ways for restoration of autonomy and also the safeguards for future, the committee points out that a suggestion has been made that Article 258 should be invoked for entrusting to the state ``functions in relation to any matter to which the executive power of the Union extends''. This would put a seal on the record of the past, it states, adding that ``functions'' so ``entrusted'' can always be recalled.

The issue is not one of executive ``functions'', but legislative ``powers'' apportioned between the Union and the state under two solemn pactsbetween them -- The Instrument of Accession in 1947 and the Delhi Agreement of 1952 -- to which the President's Order of May 14, 1954 gave constitutional sanction besides, of course, Article 370 itself, it added.

Pointing out that such constitutional understandings have been formulated in other democracies as well, it states that ``the complexities of our situation render it the best, perhaps the only course for removing the debris of an unhappy past and building, in its place, a relationship between J-K and the Union of India which reflects the most vital aspect of federalism mutual trust and respect''.