Agencies
NEW DELHI, Dec 3: The government has hinted that the newly-created Union territory of Ladakh may not be brought under Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, which provides for administration of tribal areas by autonomous district and regional councils, for now.
It told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that the existing autonomous councils set up under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act, 1997, were already the most empowered councils in the country with powers "more of less in line with the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution".
A recommendation to include Ladakh as a tribal area under the Sixth Schedule was earlier made by the National Commission for Schedule Tribes.
In reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, minister of state for home G Kishan Reddy said that the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act, 1997, continues to apply in the successor UT as per provisions of the Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019".
"The LAHDC Act, 1997 provides for establishment of autonomous hill development councils in the Ladakh region. Autonomous hill development councils came into existence in Leh in 1995 and in Kargil in 2003," the MoS noted.
He added that the powers given to these councils were more or less in line with the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India. "After the amendment of the LAHDC Act, 1997 in 2018, these councils are perhaps the most empowered autonomous hill development councils in the country," Reddy underlined. |
