Ladakh to set up autonomous hill development councils for all 7 districts
The Union Territory administration announced that an Autonomous Hill Development Council (AHDC) will be constituted in each of Ladakh's seven districts, up from the earlier two councils covering only Leh and Kargil.
The expansion follows the notification of five new districts — Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar, and Drass — in April 2026, taking Ladakh's district count from two to seven.
Each new council is proposed to have its own dedicated Council Fund, powers to levy local taxes and fees, and the authority to prepare district-specific development plans.
The move requires amendments to the existing legal framework and delimitation of council constituencies before the new bodies can actually be constituted; a separate, higher-level Union Territory body is also under consideration.
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDC) Act, 1997
The LAHDC Act, 1997 (in force from 1 June 1995) created elected hill councils for the Leh and Kargil districts, originally within the undivided state of Jammu and Kashmir, to give local bodies control over land use, allotment, and limited local taxation. These councils are a statutory, not constitutional, arrangement — created by an ordinary Act of the legislature rather than under a specific constitutional schedule.
Key Details
- LAHDCs have executive powers over land allotment/use/occupation vested in them by the government, and can levy certain local taxes such as parking fees and shop taxes, but they do not have legislative (law-making) powers.
- After the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, Ladakh became a Union Territory without a legislature, and the LAHDCs remained the primary elected local self-government institutions for Leh and Kargil.
- Elections to LAHDC Leh and Kargil are held separately; each council has a mix of elected and nominated members.
Section 3(1) of the LAHDC Act already allows the government to constitute a council in any district by notification — so extending the model to all seven new districts is a statutory extension of this 1997 framework rather than a fresh constitutional mechanism.
Sixth Schedule vs Statutory Councils: The Autonomy Debate
Article 244(2) and Article 275(1) provide for autonomous district and regional councils under the Sixth Schedule for tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram. Sixth Schedule councils enjoy constitutionally entrenched legislative, judicial, and financial powers (e.g., over land, forests, and local customary law) that cannot be altered by an ordinary government notification. Ladakh's civil society groups have long demanded Sixth Schedule status, or an equivalent, to protect land, employment, and cultural rights, arguing that the LAHDCs' powers — created under Article 240 read with an ordinary statute — can be modified or withdrawn unilaterally by the Union.
Key Details
- Article 240 empowers the President to make regulations for the administration of certain Union Territories, including Ladakh, in the absence of a legislature; regulations made this way lack the constitutional protection of Sixth Schedule status.
- The government has cited the existing decision-making powers of the LAHDCs as a response to the Sixth Schedule demand, while also floating a proposed Union Territory-level body modelled on the special provisions found in Article 371 (which grants special provisions for certain states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Nagaland, and the North-Eastern states).
- Sixth Schedule bodies exist only in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram; no Union Territory currently has Sixth Schedule status.
Expanding hill councils to all seven Ladakh districts addresses local representation demands but stops short of the constitutionally protected Sixth Schedule status that Leh and Kargil-based groups have sought since Ladakh's UT status began in 2019.
- Ladakh's district count rose from 2 to 7 in April 2026 with the addition of Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar, and Drass.
- LAHDC Act, 1997 came into force on 1 June 1995 and originally covered only Leh and Kargil.
- Ladakh has been a Union Territory without a legislature since the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 (effective 31 October 2019).
- Sixth Schedule autonomous councils currently exist only in four northeastern states: Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.