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Ladakh Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena has approved a notification extending Autonomous Hill Development Councils to all seven districts of the Union Territory.
Elected council government, so far limited to Leh and Kargil, will now cover the five new districts of Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass.
The five new districts were created in 2026, following the Centre's announcement of new hill councils on 13 July 2026.
Each council has 30 members - 26 directly elected and 4 nominated - serving five years, led by a Chief Executive Councillor with the rank of a Cabinet Minister.
Elections will follow a formal notification under Section 8 of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1997.
The enabling law under which LAHDC Leh was created in 1995 after sustained agitation for regional autonomy.
The consolidated statute governing the councils today; elections to the newly constituted councils require a formal notification under its Section 8.
Created Ladakh as a Union Territory without a legislature from 31 October 2019, which is why the hill councils carry the weight of elected representation in the UT.
Elected district body handling land allotment and un-demarcated forests, district planning and budgets, schools and health centres, local roads, agriculture, pastures and livestock, and heritage and eco-tourism
Approved the notification extending councils to all seven districts and nominates four members to each council
Ex-officio Chief Executive Officer of the council, directing administration and the execution of development works
LAHDC Leh established under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act, 1995.
The framework is consolidated under the LAHDC Act, 1997.
LAHDC Kargil established.
Ladakh becomes a Union Territory under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.
The Centre announces the creation of new hill councils in the UT.
The Lieutenant Governor approves the notification extending councils to all seven districts.
Leh and Kargil are the two original districts. Sham lies in the lower Indus belt west of Leh, Nubra to its north beyond the Khardung La, Changthang on the high eastern plateau bordering Tibet, and Zanskar and Drass in the Kargil region, Drass being among the coldest inhabited places in India.
GS Paper 2 > Polity - devolution of powers, local self-government, and Union Territories
General Awareness > Indian Polity and Current Events
Local self-government can be best explained as an exercise in
Answer: Democratic decentralisation
Article 40 of the Indian Constitution relates to:
Answer: Organization of Village Panchayats
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council - an elected statutory district body for local self-rule and development planning in Ladakh.
The head of an LAHDC, holding the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister.
Forest land not formally surveyed and demarcated, over which the councils exercise management powers.