Why Ladakh’s plan for 7 hill councils has triggered a political debate
The Ladakh administration has announced that an Autonomous Hill Development Council (AHDC) will be constituted in each of the Union Territory's seven districts, extending a structure that previously existed only in Leh and Kargil.
The move follows the creation of five new districts — Drass, Sham, Nubra, Changthang, and Zanskar — in April 2026, expanding Ladakh from two districts to seven.
Consultations are separately underway between the Centre and Ladakh representatives on a customised framework under Article 371 for a Union Territory-level representative body with legislative, executive, financial, and administrative powers.
Civil society groups in Ladakh have for several years sought inclusion under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution as a more durable safeguard for land, employment, and tribal identity than the existing statutory council structure.
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDC) Act, 1997
The LAHDC Act, 1997 is a state (now Union Territory) statute — not a constitutional provision — that established elected hill councils for Leh and Kargil, then the only two districts of Ladakh, with authority over local subjects such as land use, agriculture, and local taxation. Section 3(1) of the Act permits the constitution of a council in every district by government notification, which is the legal basis for the current seven-council expansion.
Key Details
- Each Council has 30 members: 26 directly elected on the basis of adult franchise and 4 nominated (originally by the Governor; now, post-2019, the equivalent nominating authority under the Union Territory administration), for a term of five years.
- The executive arm comprises a Chief Executive Councillor and four other Executive Councillors, functioning as the Council's cabinet.
- Because the LAHDC Act is ordinary statute rather than a constitutional entrenchment, its provisions — including the scope of council powers — can be amended or modified by the competent legislature/administration without a constitutional amendment, unlike Sixth Schedule protections.
Extending hill councils to all seven districts uses this existing statutory mechanism (Section 3(1)) rather than any new constitutional provision, which is precisely why civil society groups view it as a lesser safeguard compared to Sixth Schedule status.
The Sixth Schedule Demand — Articles 244(2) and 275(1)
The Sixth Schedule, operating under Articles 244(2) and 275(1) of the Constitution, currently provides for Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) with legislative, judicial, and executive autonomy over specified subjects in tribal areas of four states: Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram. No Union Territory currently has Sixth Schedule status, and Ladakh's civil society groups — the Leh Apex Body and the Kargil Democratic Alliance — have sought its extension there since shortly after Ladakh's 2019 reorganisation.
Key Details
- Sixth Schedule ADCs can make laws on land, forests, canal water, shifting cultivation, village administration, inheritance, marriage, divorce, and social customs, subject to the Governor's assent — protections that are constitutionally entrenched and require a constitutional amendment to alter.
- By contrast, statutory hill councils like the LAHDCs derive their powers from ordinary legislation and can be modified through the same legislative process that created them.
- Extending the Sixth Schedule to a Union Territory (which, unlike a state, has no Governor and is typically headed by a Lieutenant Governor) would be an unprecedented application of the Schedule's current constitutional design.
The expansion of statutory hill councils to seven districts is seen by demand groups as addressing administrative decentralisation without providing the constitutionally entrenched protection that Sixth Schedule status would confer — the core distinction underlying the debate over Ladakh's institutional future.
Article 371 — Special Provisions for Certain States and the Proposed Ladakh Framework
Part XXI of the Constitution (Articles 371 to 371J) contains special provisions for particular states, addressing local concerns such as administrative arrangements, protection of local customs, and land rights — for example, Article 371A for Nagaland (protecting Naga customary law and land ownership) and Article 371C for Manipur (a Hill Areas Committee for the state's hill districts). Reports indicate the Centre and Ladakh representatives have broadly discussed a customised Article 371-type framework to create a Union Territory-level representative body.
Key Details
- Article 371 provisions are typically state-specific insertions made through constitutional amendment, tailored to the particular region's history and demands, rather than a single uniform template.
- A UT-level body under such a framework would be a departure from Ladakh's current status as a Union Territory without its own legislature (unlike Delhi or Puducherry, which have Assemblies) since its creation in 2019.
- Any such framework, being a constitutional insertion, would require a constitutional amendment bill passed by the special majority prescribed under Article 368, distinguishing it procedurally from the ordinary statutory route used for LAHDC expansion.
The parallel discussion on an Article 371-type framework represents a third, constitutionally entrenched option for Ladakh's governance — distinct both from the ordinary-law hill councils being expanded now and from the Sixth Schedule route civil society groups have demanded, which is central to why the hill council expansion has drawn scrutiny as a potentially competing or diluting measure.
- Ladakh's district count increased from 2 (Leh, Kargil) to 7 with the addition of Drass, Sham, Nubra, Changthang, and Zanskar, operationalised in April 2026.
- LAHDC Act, 1997: each Council has 30 members — 26 elected, 4 nominated — with a 5-year term; executive headed by a Chief Executive Councillor plus 4 Executive Councillors.
- Sixth Schedule (Articles 244(2), 275(1)) currently applies only to Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram; no Union Territory currently holds Sixth Schedule status.
- Ladakh has been a Union Territory without a legislature since 31 October 2019, under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
- Article 371 special provisions exist for 12 states (371 to 371J), each tailored to a specific state's circumstances — e.g., Article 371A (Nagaland), Article 371C (Manipur), Article 371F (Sikkim).
- A constitutional amendment establishing any new Article 371-type provision requires the special majority prescribed under Article 368 in both Houses of Parliament.