LAHDC (Amendment) Regulation, 2026: Hill Councils for All Eight Districts of Ladakh
The President promulgated (issued) the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDC) (Amendment) Regulation, 2026 on 16 October 2026. The Union Cabinet had approved the changes on 14 October.
The regulation paves the way for a Hill Council in each of Ladakh's eight districts, including the newly created Sankoo district. Until 2026, Ladakh had only two districts (Leh and Kargil) and two Hill Councils.
Each council earlier had 26 elected seats. The amended law allows a minimum of 7 and a maximum of 24 elected seats per council, so that smaller districts get smaller councils.
It also provides for 4 nominated members from women and "unrepresented communities" in each council.
Ladakh got five new districts on 27 April 2026 (Nubra, Sham and Changthang from Leh; Zanskar and Drass from Kargil). Sankoo, carved out of Kargil in the Suru Valley, became the eighth district on 16 October 2026.
The Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), which is in talks with the Centre on statehood and the Sixth Schedule, questioned why the councils' composition and powers were changed without consulting local stakeholders while those talks are still going on.
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDC) Act, 1997
The LAHDC Act is the law that sets up elected local councils to run development work in the districts of Ladakh. Each council is called a Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), or simply a Hill Council. It is headed by a Chief Executive Councillor (CEC), who is helped by Executive Councillors. The councils plan and carry out local development, but they cannot make laws and do not have constitutional status. The Act was first passed in 1995 by the then State of Jammu and Kashmir and continues today as the LAHDC Act, 1997.
The 2026 regulation stretches the Hill Council model from two districts to eight. This brings elected local government closer to remote areas like Nubra, Changthang and Zanskar, but it also shows that these councils can be reshaped by the Centre without local consent, which is the core of the KDA's objection.
Constitutional Framework for Union Territories (Part VIII, Articles 239–241)
A Union Territory (UT) is an area of India governed directly by the Central Government, not by its own state government. The President runs each UT through an Administrator, who is often called the Lieutenant Governor (L-G). Some UTs (Delhi, Puducherry, Jammu and Kashmir) have their own elected legislature; others, like Ladakh, do not. For UTs without a legislature, laws are made either by Parliament or by the President through "regulations" under Article 240.
The LAHDC (Amendment) Regulation, 2026 is an Article 240 regulation. This is how a law passed by the old J&K state legislature was changed within days, without a bill in Parliament: the Union Cabinet approved it on 14 October and the President promulgated it on 16 October.
Sixth Schedule: Autonomous District Councils
The Sixth Schedule is a part of the Constitution that gives self-rule to tribal areas in four north-eastern states: Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. It creates Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) that can make laws on subjects like land, forests, village administration, inheritance and social customs, run local courts and collect certain taxes. It comes from Articles 244(2) and 275(1). Many groups in Ladakh have demanded Sixth Schedule status because it gives strong constitutional protection to land, jobs and culture.
The KDA argues that changing the Hill Councils now, while talks on the Sixth Schedule and constitutional protection are going on, weakens Ladakh's bargaining position. The episode shows the key difference between statutory councils (which the Centre can change by regulation) and Sixth Schedule councils (which only Parliament can change, by a constitutional amendment).
- Regulation: Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (Amendment) Regulation, 2026
- Union Cabinet approval: 14 October 2026; promulgated by the President: 16 October 2026
- Elected seats per council: earlier 26; now minimum 7, maximum 24
- Nominated members: 4 per council, from women and unrepresented communities
- Districts of Ladakh: 8 (Leh, Kargil, Nubra, Sham, Changthang, Zanskar, Drass, Sankoo)
- Five new districts notified: 27 April 2026; Sankoo (eighth) created: 16 October 2026, carved out of Kargil
- Hill Councils before 2026: LAHDC Leh (1995) and LAHDC Kargil (2003)
- Legal basis: Article 240, read with Section 58(2) of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019
- June 2025 amendment: one-third of Hill Council seats reserved for women, by rotation