Months after the Centre approved the creation of districts in the Union Territory of Ladakh, Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Thursday gave his nod to the notification for creation of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs) for each of them, saying that the move will “empower the people.”

This comes two months after the decision was announced by the Ladakh administration.

WHY IT MATTERS

With this, the framework of elected local self-governance, which was earlier limited to Leh and Kargil, will now be extended to the five newly created districts in the Union Territory

In April, L-G VK Saxena notified the creation of new districts in Ladakh. This comes at a time when representative groups from Ladakh — the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) — are in talks with the Ministry of Home Affairs, seeking greater democratic representation, a legislature and protections for their land and environment under the sixth schedule of the Constitution.

‘Move will strengthen participatory local governance’

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The L-G said on Thursday that the establishment of the seven councils will decentralise and strengthen “participatory local governance, allowing local aspirations and priorities to be reflected more effectively and in district-level planning and development.”

With the notification, LAHDCs will now be extended to all seven districts of Ladakh – Leh, Kargil, Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass.

The framework of elected local self-governance, which was earlier limited to Leh and Kargil, will now be extended to the five newly created districts in the UT.

The hill councils were created in 1995 under the LAHDC Act, with powers pertaining to allotment, use and occupation of land vested in the Council by the government, formulation of development programmes for the district, special measures for employment generation, public health and sanitation, local road transport and its development, among other functions.

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The Kargil Hill Council held elections in October 2023 while the term of the Leh council concluded in October 2025. Fresh elections to the Leh hill council have not been announced since, which is unprecedented.

Leh and Kargil remain the most densely populated areas by virtue of being district headquarters over a long period of time. The Act currently provides for 26 directly elected councillors in each council who will then elect a chief executive councillor from among them.

“The creation of Autonomous Hill Development Councils in all seven districts is a milestone in strengthening grassroots governance in Ladakh. This will empower the people and enable development to be more responsive to local needs and aspirations,” L-G Saxena said.

The notification issued by the Revenue Department, UT of Ladakh, says the elections to the newly constituted Councils will be held in due course after a formal notification is issued under Section 8 of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1997.

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As part of the Centre’s ongoing engagement with Ladakh, the Ministry of Home Affairs has fixed an official meeting of the sub committee on September 9 in Delhi. The last meeting between the MHA and Ladakh took place on May 22.