Ahead of tour, UT Admn releases Reservation Rules
LAB, KDA call joint meeting in Leh the same day
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, June 27: Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan is visiting the Union Territory of Ladakh on June 30 to review various developmental works with senior officers of the administration and some other crucial issues of the UT including formal creation of five districts announced in August last year.
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However, the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), which have jointly been spearheading the agitation for various demands including Sixth Schedule, Statehood etc, haven’t been invited for the meeting so far but the two bodies have called their own meeting in Leh the same day.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the Home Secretary will reach Leh in the morning of June 30 and will have one-to-one meeting with Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh Brig (Retd) BD Mishra followed by another meeting with senior officers of the UT to review working of the administration and pace of ongoing development works to ensure their timely completion.
Few days back, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited Ladakh on a four-day visit and is reported to have assured the chairpersons-cum-CECs of Autonomous Hill Development Councils of Leh and Kargil about restoration of budgetary cuts of the twin bodies.
Leh Apex Body (LAB) co-chairman Chering Dorjay Lakruk said they or the KDA haven’t received any invitation for the talks with visiting Home Secretary but they have called their own meeting the same day i.e. June 30 in Leh.
“We have called joint meeting of LAB and KDA on June 30. If the Home Secretary calls us for the meeting, it’s alright. If not, we will hold our own meeting and decide future course of action in view of delay in convening High Powered Committee (HPC) meeting by the Union Home Ministry which is headed by Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai,” Lakruk said and pointed out that last meeting of the HPC was held on May 27 and they were assured that next meeting will be held within a month. In the last meeting, the issues of domicile and reservation were addressed.
Ahead of the Home Secretary’s visit, the UT administration of Ladakh amended Ladakh Reservation Rules based on the consensus reached at the High Powered Committee meeting in Delhi on May 27.
There will be 80 percent reservation for Scheduled Tribes (STs), 10 percent for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), four percent for residents of areas adjoining the Actual line of Control (ALC) and one percent for Scheduled Castes (SCs).
There will be five percent reservation for domiciles.
Ten percent reservation will be Horizontal including six percent for Ex-servicemen and four percent for Persons with Disabilities.
Sources said the Union Home Secretary could discuss the roadmap for formal creation of five new districts in Ladakh with the UT administration especially in the wake of upcoming elections to Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council which are due in September-October this year.
The MHA had on August 26, 2024 announced five new districts for Ladakh including Sham, Nubra and Changthang in Leh; and Zanskar and Drass in Kargil. Presently, there are only two districts in Ladakh including Leh and Kargil.
Subsequently, the UT administration had set up high-level committee headed by Retired IAS officer Pramod Kumar Jain and comprising Kacho Asfandyar Khan and Tsering Angchok as Members and Deputy Commissioners of Leh and Kargil as ex-officio members for identification of areas, posts, headquarters and other requisites for new districts.
The Committee has already submitted its report.
However, the major task ahead of the MHA will be to take a decision on how to proceed with the structure of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs). Presently, the two districts of Leh and Kargil have the Hill Development Councils with 30 Councilors each-26 of whom were elected while four others are nominated by the UT administration. Each Council has a Chairman and four Executive Councilors.
As five newly created districts will be small administrative units in terms of population, the MHA will have to examine whether the concept of Hill Development Councils will be feasible for the new districts or not. Moreover, some areas of Leh and Kargil District Development Councils will also become part of five newly created districts effectively reducing population and voters in the existing Councils, the sources pointed out.
“The MHA is expected to take a call shortly as elections to Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council are due in September-October this year,” they said. The BJP is in power for two consecutive terms in Leh Council. In fact, the BJP also won Ladakh Lok Sabha seat in 2014 and 2019 but lost in 2024 Parliamentary polls.
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