Ladakh to set up autonomous hill development councils for all seven districts: Chief Secretary
The Ladakh Union Territory administration announced that Autonomous Hill Development Councils (AHDCs) will be constituted in each of Ladakh's seven districts.
Ladakh was expanded from two districts (Leh and Kargil) to seven in April 2026, with Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar, and Drass notified as new districts.
Each of the seven councils will exercise the full range of powers already available to the Leh and Kargil councils, including authority over land allotment, local taxation, recruitment to district-cadre posts, and formulation of development plans.
A Union Territory-level coordinating body has been proposed above the seven councils, envisaged under a customised framework drawing on Article 371-type special provisions, with legislative, executive, financial, and administrative functions.
The move is presented as a step toward democratic decentralisation and grassroots governance in the Union Territory.
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDC) Act, 1997
The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1997 established elected councils for Leh (functional since 1995) and Kargil (functional since 2003) to manage local governance, land, and development within their districts, predating Ladakh's 2019 status as a separate Union Territory. The Act provides councils a set number of directly elected members (26 in the original Leh/Kargil model) plus limited nominated seats for religious minorities and women.
Key Details
- LAHDC powers include control over land use and allotment, collection of local taxes and fees, and preparation of local development plans — but the councils do not have legislative powers over subjects reserved for the Union Territory administration or Parliament.
- Since Ladakh's reorganisation as a Union Territory without a legislature in August 2019 (under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act), the LAHDCs have taken on greater significance as the only directly elected bodies for the region.
- The 2026 expansion extends the same LAHDC Act powers — not a diluted version — to the five newly created districts, rather than creating a separate, weaker framework.
The seven-council structure operationalises Ladakh's expanded district map by giving each new district its own elected council with full LAHDC Act powers, rather than continuing to administer them through Leh or Kargil.
Article 239 and Union Territory Administration
Article 239 of the Constitution provides that every Union Territory is administered by the President, acting through an Administrator (Lieutenant Governor), except where Parliament has provided for a legislature (as under Article 239A for Puducherry or Article 239AA for Delhi). Ladakh, since 2019, is a Union Territory without a legislature, administered directly under Article 239, unlike Jammu & Kashmir, which retains a legislature under Article 239A-type provisions applied via the J&K Reorganisation Act.
Key Details
- In a Union Territory without a legislature, elected local bodies such as LAHDCs and municipal/panchayat institutions become the primary channels of local democratic representation.
- Ladakh's civil society groups have demanded either restoration of statehood, inclusion under the Sixth Schedule, or a dedicated Public Service Commission and stronger constitutional safeguards since 2019.
- The proposed UT-level body above the seven councils, drawing on an Article 371-type special provision model, would be a further institutional layer distinct from a full legislature.
Expanding elected councils across all seven districts is a way of strengthening grassroots representation within the existing Article 239 (no-legislature) framework, short of granting Ladakh full statehood or a Legislative Assembly.
Comparison with Other Hill and Autonomous Councils
India has multiple models of hill and tribal-area autonomy: Sixth Schedule Autonomous District Councils (Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram) with direct legislative powers over land, forests, and customary law subject to Governor's assent; statutory hill councils created by special state Acts, such as the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council/Gorkhaland Territorial Administration in West Bengal and the Bodoland Territorial Council in Assam (the latter under the Sixth Schedule); and the LAHDC model in Ladakh, created by a Jammu & Kashmir-era Act and continued after UT status.
Key Details
- Unlike Sixth Schedule councils, LAHDCs derive their powers from a specific enabling Act (originally passed by the J&K state legislature in 1997) rather than a constitutional schedule.
- Ladakh's demand for Sixth Schedule inclusion, raised prominently after the 2019 abrogation of Jammu & Kashmir's special status under Article 370, remains a separate, more far-reaching ask than the current seven-council expansion.
- Bodoland Territorial Council, by contrast, operates under the Sixth Schedule with broader legislative competence over listed subjects than Ladakh's LAHDC framework currently provides.
The seven-council announcement expands the existing LAHDC model rather than granting Ladakh the more extensive Sixth Schedule protections that regional groups have sought since 2019.
- Ladakh expanded from 2 districts to 7 in April 2026 (new districts: Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar, Drass).
- Leh's Hill Council has functioned since 1995; Kargil's since 2003, both under the LAHDC Act, 1997.
- Each of the seven councils will exercise full LAHDC Act powers over land, local taxation, district-cadre recruitment, and development planning.
- Ladakh has been a Union Territory without a legislature, administered under Article 239, since August 2019.