The Centre and Ladakh's civil society leadership on Friday reached a major breakthrough, agreeing in principle to create an elected Union Territory-level body with executive, financial and legislative powers-the first such consensus since Ladakh became a UT in 2019.
The agreement was reached after Union Home Ministry Additional Secretary Prashant Lokhande met representatives of the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) to finalise the minutes of the sub-committee meeting held on May 22 under the Ministry's High-Powered Committee.
The breakthrough comes weeks after talks hit a roadblock, with LAB refusing to sign the earlier draftminutes, alleging that key decisions had been omitted. The impasse had triggered protests in Leh and Kargil. According to the agreed minutes, both sides decided that while statehood would remain Ladakh's long-term aspiration, the immediate priority would be to establish a customised elected UT-level body with executive, financial and legislative powers.
The proposed body will also exercise control over officials handling subjects under its jurisdiction, including supervision of their Annual Performance Appraisal Reports (APARs). The finer details will be worked out in subsequent meetings.
The two sides also agreed to evolve a special constitutional framework for Ladakh by adopting a sui generis model inspired by Article 371, instead of replicating safeguards available to any other state A draft defining the body's powers and its relationship with the Hill Development Councils and Panchayati Raj Institutions will be prepared for further discussions.
The development is politically significant as Ladakh has been without an elected legislature since it was carved out of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir and made a separate Union Territory in August 2019.
The Leh Apex Body and the Kargil Democratic Alliance-an unusual coalition representing the Buddhist-majority Leh district and the Muslim-majority Kargil district-have jointly been pressing the Centre for statehood, Sixth Schedule safeguards, constitutional protection for land and jobs, and greater democratic representation.
While Friday's agreement does not concede statehood or Sixth Schedule status, it marks the first formal consensus between the Centre and Ladakh's leadership on creating a representative UT-level institution with executive, financial and legislative powers.
The minutes also acknowledge the Centre's recent measures on domicile protection, reservations, infrastructure development, employment and administrative reforms in Ladakh.
