Editorial 2 : New protections for Ladakh
Context
Over the past few years, civil society in Ladakh has raised demands for inclusion in the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The new regulations address some of these concerns, but fall short in significant ways.
The New Regulations
- The Centre has notified a series of regulations for Ladakh’s land, jobs, and cultural preservation, aimed at addressing concerns raised by the civil society in Ladakh over the past five years.
- The new legal framework introduces a domicile-based job reservation system, recognition of local languages, and procedural clarity in civil service recruitment.
- They are:
1. Ladakh Civil Services Decentralization and Recruitment (Amendment) Regulation, 2025
- This regulation introduces a domicile requirement for recruitment in government posts under the Union Territory of Ladakh, for the first time.
2. Ladakh Civil Services Domicile Certificate Rules, 2025
- These rules lay out the procedure and documentation required to obtain a domicile certificate. The tehsildar is designated as the issuing authority, while the Deputy Commissioner is the appellate authority.
3. Union Territory of Ladakh Reservation (Amendment) Regulation, 2025
- This regulation caps the total reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Classes (OBC), and other socially and educationally backward groups at 85%, excluding the 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS),
- Importantly, these reservations have also been extended to professional institutions, such as engineering and medical colleges in Ladakh.
4. Ladakh Official Languages Regulation, 2025
- This law recognises English, Hindi, Urdu, Bhoti, and Purgi as the official languages of Ladakh. It also mandates institutional support for the promotion of Shina, Brokskat, Balti, and Ladakhi, for preserving Ladakh’s linguistic and cultural diversity.
5. Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (Amendment) Regulation, 2025
- This amends the LAHDC Act of 1997 to reserve one-third of the seats for women in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils of Leh and Kargil, through rotation.
Why are these regulations significant?
- This is the first comprehensive attempt by the Centre to tailor governance and administrative frameworks specifically for Ladakh, following its bifurcation from Jammu & Kashmir in 2019.
- Since the government is reluctant to grant Sixth Schedule status to Ladakh, which would result in greater autonomy under the Constitution, the regulations aim to address Ladakhi concerns through executive orders rather than constitutional guarantees.
- The promotion of Ladakhi, Balti, and other minority dialects reflects an understanding of the importance of cultural identity in political demands.
How are the new regulations different from existing provisions?
- Before these regulations, Ladakh was governed largely by adapted versions of laws in J&K, including the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Act, 2004 and the Civil Services Decentralization and Recruitment Act, 2010.
- These did not include any concept of domicile specific to Ladakh, protection for jobs for locals, clear reservation caps or exclusions for EWS, and recognition of Ladakhi languages in official use.
How do they compare with Jammu & Kashmir’s protections?
- After bifurcation, the UT of Jammu & Kashmir received: Domicile laws that restrict government jobs to locals; Land ownership restrictions, preventing outsiders from purchasing land in the UT; A legislative assembly, which gives residents a voice in law-making.
- In contrast, Ladakh: Has no legislature; Until now, had no job reservation policy for locals; Still does not have any legal land protection mechanism.
- So, while these regulations bring Ladakh somewhat closer to the protections given to Jammu & Kashmir post-2019.
What are the limitations of these regulations?
- Despite being an important step, the regulations fall short of addressing certain core demands of the Sixth Schedule movement:
- Lack of constitutional protection: All new rules and regulations have been made under Article 240 of the Constitution, which allows the President to make regulations for UTs without the legislature. These are executive decisions that can be amended or withdrawn by the Centre at any time, unlike the Sixth Schedule, which is part of the Constitution and offers guaranteed protections.
- No land safeguards: The most critical omission is the absence of any restriction on land ownership by non-domiciles. This is a key issue in Ladakh, given concerns over large-scale tourism, infrastructure projects, and climate vulnerability.
- No local legislature or council with law-making powers: The Sixth Schedule allows for the creation of Autonomous District Councils with powers over land, forests, customs, education, and more. The LAHDCs, even with one-third seats now reserved for women, remain administrative bodies without legislative power.
- Symbolic cultural protection: While local languages have been recognised, there is no roadmap for their official use in education, governance, or the judiciary.
Conclusion
Kargili’s remarks underline that while progress has been made, it is only preliminary, and sustained efforts will continue to push for comprehensive political and constitutional safeguards for Ladakh.