Kashmir Impulse Desk
Leh, Oct 21
Ladakh’s administration has dissolved the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) in Kargil with immediate effect, citing changes to district boundaries and the reorganisation of the Union Territory’s administrative structure.
The order follows the resignation on October 20 of the council’s chief executive councillor, three executive councillors and six other councillors.
Under the order, all elected and nominated members of the previous council cease to hold office and exercise their powers with immediate effect.
The Deputy Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of Kargil will temporarily assume the council’s powers and responsibilities to maintain public services and prevent an administrative vacuum, the order said.
The arrangement will remain in place until separate Autonomous Hill Development Councils are constituted under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1997, and its subsequent amendments.
The decision follows the notification of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (Amendment) Regulation, 2026, by Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena after its promulgation by President Droupadi Murmu.
The administration also notified Sankoo as Ladakh’s eighth district on October 16 and constituted a separate hill council there under the relevant legislation, changing the territorial jurisdiction of the Kargil council.
The terms of the Leh and Kargil councils had followed different timelines.
The Leh council’s term ended on October 30, 2025, while the Kargil council’s term was scheduled to run until October 2028.
The latest notification brings the existing Kargil council arrangement to an end, although the order did not separately clarify its remaining tenure.
Officials said the administration plans to carry out delimitation for all eight hill councils simultaneously before holding elections.
The council elections are expected to take place in April or May next year because of weather constraints, with panchayat elections scheduled to be held first.
