Latest revision as of 18:30, 12 June 2025

[edit] 6th Schedule/ district, regional councils

[edit] GOI’s views, as in 2019 Dec

Dec 4, 2019 Times of India

The government has hinted that the newly-created Union Territory of Ladakh may not be brought under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, which provides for administration of tribal areas by autonomous district and regional councils, for now.

It told Lok Sabha that the existing autonomous councils set up under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act, 1997, were the most empowered councils in the country with powers “more of less in line with the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution”.

A recommendation to include Ladakh as a tribal area under the Sixth Schedule was earlier made by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.

In reply to a question in Lok Sabha, minister of state for home G Kishan Reddy said the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act, 1997, “continued to apply in the UT as per the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019”.

“The LAHDC Act, 1997, provides for establishment of autonomous hill development councils in the Ladakh region. Autonomous hill development councils came into existence in Leh in 1995 and in Kargil in 2003,” Reddy said.

He added that the powers given to these councils were more or less in line with the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. “After the amendment of the LAHDC Act, 1997, in 2018, these councils are perhaps the most empowered autonomous hill development councils in the country,” he said.

[edit] Districts

[edit] 2024: five new districts

Union home ministry approved the creation of five new districts in the UT of Ladakh, in a move aimed at better percolation of development and welfare schemes to the grassroots. Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang have been named as the new districts, thereby taking the total in India’s northernmost UT to seven. Ladakh currently has just two districts, Leh and Kargil.

[edit] Kargil: Hill Development Council

[edit] Elections

[edit] 2023

Oct 9, 2023: The Times of India

The National Conference has won 12, the Congress 10, the BJP 2, and others 2 seats in this election. (IANS)The National Conference-Congress alliance swept the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Kargil polls, routing the BJP that managed to get just 2 out of the 26 seats for which direct elections were held.

LAHDC Kargil has a total of 30 members out of which 26 are directly elected and four are appointed to represent women and minority communities.

The National Conference has won 12, the Congress 10, the BJP 2, and others 2 seats in this election.

This is the first election held in Ladakh after the region became a Union Territory following the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of J&K into two UTs. Prominent losers include former Chairman of the council, Haji Anayat Ali. Although the BJP fielded its candidates for all the seats, but the contest from the very beginning looked heavily loaded in favour of the National Conference-Congress alliance.

[edit] YEAR WISE DEVELOPMENTS

[edit] 2019

[edit] ‘Divisional status’

Sanjay Khajuria, J&K creates separate admin, revenue division for Ladakh, February 9, 2019: The Times of India

In a decision aimed at boosting governance and development initiatives in the Ladakh region, the Jammu & Kashmir government has approved the creation of a separate administrative-cum-revenue division for Ladakh. The new division, which fulfils a long-standing demand of the people of Ladakh, will comprise Leh and Kargil districts, with its headquarters at Leh.

J&K now comprises three divisions — Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. Until now, Ladakh was part of the Kashmir division. “The government has also approved the creation of posts of divisional commissioner (Ladakh), Leh, and inspector general of police (Ladakh), Leh,” an official spokesperson said. “Further, a committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of principal secretary, planning, development and monitoring department, to identify the posts of divisional level heads of various departments that may be required for the new division, particularly their staffing pattern, role and responsibilities, and proposed location of these offices,” he added.

[edit] 31 Oct: Union Territory status

Bharti Jain, Nov 2, 2019: The Times of India

The map of north India after creation of 2 new Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh
From: Bharti Jain, Nov 2, 2019: The Times of India

Key Highlights

In a statement, the ministry of home affairs said the UT of Ladakh consists of two districts of Kargil and Leh

The rest of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir is in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir

NEW DELHI: The political maps of newly-formed Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh, released by the Survey General of India, depict UT of J&K as comprising 22 districts including Muzaffarabad and Mirpur in PoK. The UT of Ladakh, as per the latest map, has two districts of Kargil and Leh, with the latter encompassing the erstwhile districts of Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas, Tribal Territory, and Leh and Ladakh.

The districts in UT of J&K, as per the new map, include Kathua, Jammu, Samba, Udhampur, Doda, Kishtwar, Rajouri, Reasi, Ramban, Poonch, Kulgam, Shopian, Srinagar, Anantnag, Budgam, Pulwama, Ganderbal, Bandipora, Baramulla, Kupwara, Mirpur and Muzaffarabad.

The UT of Ladakh, as per the official map, will comprise the districts of Kargil, carved out of area of Leh and Ladakh district as outlined in 1947, and Leh, which will encompass the erstwhile districts of Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas, Tribal Territory, and areas of Leh and Ladakh remaining after carving of Kargil.

In 1947, the former state of Jammu and Kashmir had 14 districts, namely, Kathua, Jammu, Udhampur, Reasi, Anantnag, Baramulla, Poonch, Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Leh and Ladakh, Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas, and Tribal Territory.

By 2019, the state government of former J&K had reorganized the areas of these 14 districts into 28 districts. The names of the new districts are Kupwara, Bandipur, Ganderbal, Srinagar, Budgam, Pulwama, Shupian, Kulgam, Rajouri, Ramban, Doda, Kishtivar, Samba and Kargil.

Out of these, Kargil district was carved out from the area of Leh and Ladakh district. The Leh district of the new Union Territory of Ladakh has been defined in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Removal of Difficulties) Second Order, 2019, issued by the President of India, to include the areas of the districts of Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas and Tribal Territory of 1947, in addition to the remaining areas of Leh and Ladakh districts of 1947, after carving out the Kargil District.

On this basis, the maps prepared by Survey General of India depicting the new Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, as created on 31 October 2019, along with the map of India, have been released.

The UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh are headed by lieutenant governors G C Murmu and R K Mathur, respectively.

This is for the first time that a state was converted into two UTs. The total number of states in the country are now 28, while the total UTs have gone up to nine.

The UT of Jammu and Kashmir has a legislature like Puducherry while Ladakh will stay a UT without legislature like Chandigarh.

[edit] 2025

[edit] Reservation in jobs; Official languages

Bharti Jain, June 4, 2025: The Times of India

New Delhi : Conceding the longstanding demands of Ladakhi people for safeguarding their economic rights as well as cultural and linguistic identity, the Centre introduced new reservation and domicile policy for the Union Territory, guaranteeing 85% quota to locals in jobs while also reserving onethird seats for women in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils.


English, Hindi, Urdu, Bhoti and Purgi languages were notified as official languages of Ladakh, with new regulation also requiring boosting institutional mechanisms for promoting native languages like Shina (Dardic), Brokskat (Dardic), Balti and Ladakhi.

Ladakh Autonomous Council to reserve 33% of seats for women

Centre’s move seeks to assuage the sentiments of Ladakh’s native population that had been demanding constitutional safeguards to protect their language, culture and land after the special status of the erstwhile state of J&K, which included Ladakh, under Article 370 was abrogated in 2019, and Ladakh hived off into a separate Union Territory. Though short of their demand for Ladakh’s inclusion in Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, the 85% reservation for local Ladakhis in govt jobs and seats in professional institutions, was worked out in consultations held by a high-powered committee led by junior home minister Nityanand Rai, with civil society organisations from Ladakh.


The safeguards for Ladakh finally implemented on Tuesday, are contained in a set of three separate regulations promulgated by the President of India on Monday. The UT of Ladakh Reservation (Amendment) Bill Regulation, 2025 amends provisions of the parent J&K Reservation Act, 2004, to raise the cap on total reservation in jobs and professional institutions in Ladakh to 85%, excluding the 10% quota for economically weaker sections.


The Ladakh Civil Services Decentralisation and Recruitment (Amendment) Regulation, 2025, defines the conditions for domicile status: anyone who has resided in Ladakh for 15 years, or who has studied for seven years and appeared in Class 10 or 12 examination in a school located in UT, or whose parents are central govt officers who served in UT for 10 years. Children or spouses of Ladakhis fulfilling the 15-year domicile condition will also get domicile status. The procedure for grant of domicile certificate, notified in a separate set of rules, makes tehsildar the competent authority to issue domicile certificates; an officer appointed by the UT administrator will do the same for the children of central govt officers with 10-year service in Ladakh. 


The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDC) Regulation 2025, notified on Tuesday, states that “not less than one-third of the total number of seats in the council shall be reserved for women and such seats may be allotted by rotation to different territorial constituencies”. The move is in line with spirit of the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, which provides for 33% quota to women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies. 


Ladakh has two autonomous hill development councils —one each for Leh and Kargil.


Centre had assured a delegation from Ladakh in Dec2023 that it was committed to fasttracking the development of UT and meeting aspirations of the people in the region. Subsequently, an HPC for Ladakh was constituted under Nityanand Rai. In Aug 2024, Centre created five new districts in Ladakh — Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang.