All Ladakh districts to have autonomous hill development councils

Why in the News

Ladakh’s Lieutenant Governor has approved the notification creating Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs) for each district of the Union Territory. Elected hill councils existed only in Leh and Kargil, and the notification extends the framework to the five districts notified in April. The councils are the only elected tier of self government in Ladakh, which has had no legislature since it was constituted as a Union Territory without one. The Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) are in talks with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for something the notification does not provide: a legislature, and protection for land and environment under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.

What is a Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council?

1. It is a statutory district level body: The councils were created under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, first in 1995 and then in the 1997 Act that governs them.
2. It is directly elected: The Act provides for 26 directly elected councillors in each council, who then elect a chief executive councillor from among themselves.
3. Its functions are developmental and land related: Powers concerning allotment, use and occupation of land vested in the council by the government, formulation of the district’s development programmes, special measures for employment generation, public health and sanitation, and local road transport sit with it.
4. Elections require a separate notification: Polls to the newly constituted councils will be held after a formal notification is issued under Section 8 of the 1997 Act.

What has the notification changed?

1. All seven districts get a council: Leh, Kargil, Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass will each have a hill council.
2. Elected local government reaches beyond two districts: The framework was earlier confined to Leh and Kargil, the two long standing district headquarters and the most densely populated areas of the Union Territory.
3. It completes a step begun in April: The Lieutenant Governor notified the creation of the new districts in April, and the councils follow for each of them.
4. The stated purpose is district level planning: Seven councils are expected to decentralise governance and let local priorities enter district level planning and development directly.

Why does the expansion not settle the Ladakh demand?

1. The demand is constitutional, not administrative: The LAB and the KDA are seeking a legislature for Ladakh and Sixth Schedule protection for land and environment, neither of which a hill council can supply.
2. Talks continue on a separate track: The MHA has fixed a meeting of its sub committee for 9 September, the previous meeting having been held on 22 May.
3. One existing council is running without a mandate: The term of the Leh council ended in October 2025 and fresh elections have not been announced since, which is without precedent for that body. The Kargil council last went to the polls in October 2023.
4. More bodies do not equal more powers: Extending a council with land allotment and development functions widens the number of devolved units, and leaves untouched the legislative and protective powers the two bodies are asking for.

Challenges to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils

1. The councils hold no legislative power: They plan and execute within powers delegated by the administration, and cannot legislate on land, forest or inheritance the way an autonomous district council under the Sixth Schedule can. Eg. The Bodoland Territorial Council in Assam legislates on subjects transferred to it, which no Ladakh hill council can do.
   The Fix: Specify the subjects transferred to each council in a schedule to the Act, so its jurisdiction does not depend on an executive order.
2. Finances flow through the Union Territory administration: A council’s plan depends on funds released by an administration it does not elect, so its priorities can be reordered upstream. Eg. Ladakh has no legislature to vote its budget, so the entire allocation is decided through the Union Territory’s administrative route.
   The Fix: Fix a formula based untied share of the Union Territory’s budget for each council, released on a published calendar.
3. Elections can lapse without consequence: Nothing forces a poll when a council’s term ends, so an elected body can be replaced by administrative control by default. Eg. The Leh council has been without an elected body since its term ended in October 2025.
   The Fix: Make the election notification under Section 8 mandatory within a fixed period before the term expires, enforceable by the courts.
4. The new districts are thinly populated and lightly staffed: Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass have small populations spread over long distances, so each new council needs an administrative apparatus that does not yet exist. Eg. Zanskar remains cut off by road for several months each winter, which limits both administration and service delivery.
   The Fix: Sanction a standard district cadre and a linked digital service delivery backbone for each new council before its first election.
5. Two councils have historically pulled in different directions: Leh and Kargil have differed on statehood and on religious and political representation, and seven councils multiply the coordination problem. Eg. The LAB and the KDA came together only after 2020, having earlier taken opposing positions on the Union Territory demand.
   The Fix: Constitute a statutory Ladakh level council of chief executive councillors to settle inter district allocation and present a single position to the Centre.

Conclusion

Devolution has widened in Ladakh at the district level and has not deepened in the powers each district holds. The two claims now sit against each other: an administration that has multiplied elected bodies, and representative groups that are asking for a legislature and a constitutional shield that no number of councils can substitute for. The sub committee meeting on 9 September is the next point at which that gap either narrows or is confirmed. The more immediate test is whether the notification for the new councils is followed by a poll date for the one that has been without an elected body for nearly a year.

Back2Basics: Sixth Schedule of the Constitution

1. What it provides: The Sixth Schedule, read with Articles 244(2) and 275(1), provides for the administration of tribal areas through Autonomous District Councils and Regional Councils.
2. Where it applies: It currently covers tribal areas in four States, namely Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. Ladakh is not covered by it.
3. What the councils can do: These councils can make laws on land, forest other than reserved forest, shifting cultivation, village administration, inheritance, marriage and social customs, subject to the Governor’s assent.
4. What powers they hold beyond lawmaking: They may constitute village courts for disputes among Scheduled Tribes, and may levy specified taxes and collect land revenue within their areas.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2022, GS2, 10 marks] To what extent, in your opinion, has the decentralisation of power in India changed the governance landscape at the grassroots ?”