NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday issued a notification introducing a new reservation and domicile policy for the Union Territory of Ladakh. According to the notification, 85 percent of jobs will be reserved for locals and one-third of the seats in the Autonomous Hill Development Councils allotted to women.
The notification, issued by the Union Ministry of Law & Justice, came following several rounds of talks between representatives from Ladakh and a high-powered committee of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) led by Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai.
Officials said the decision is aimed at protecting the interests of locals, as people of Ladakh have been demanding constitutional safeguards to preserve their language, culture and land after the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 was done away with in 2019.
In the notification, the government said that the proposed changes in the policies with regard to the reservation in jobs, autonomous councils and domicile would come into effect immediately.
“Under the new rules, those who have resided for a period of 15 years in the UT or studied for a period of seven years and appeared in class 10th or 12th examination in an educational institution located in the UT shall be domicile of Ladakh for the purposes of appointment to any post under the UT or under a local or other authority other than cantonment Board,” the notification said.
Children of central government officials, All India Services Officers, officials of public sector undertakings and autonomous bodies of the central government, public sector banks, officials of statutory bodies, officials of central universities and recognised research institutes of the central government, who have served in the UT for a total period of 10 years, are also eligible for domicile, it noted.
The reservation for Economically Weaker Sections continues to be 10 per cent, as per the central rule.
In a separate notification, the government said that in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1997, not less than one-third of the total number of seats in the Council shall be reserved for women and such seats may be allotted by rotation to different territorial constituencies. “The rotation of constituencies reserved for women shall be made on the basis of serial number allotted to each constituency by notification in the official gazette,” it said.
In October 2024, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk sat on an indefinite fast in Delhi to press for the demands. Subsequently, the high-powered panel held several rounds of talks with civil society leaders from Ladakh, with the last such meeting held on May 27 this year.
