Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir officially bifurcated into two Union Territories from October 31. India now has one less state and two new Union Territories. Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh got their respective Lieutenant Governors. The big change of status for Jammu and Kashmir comes 86 days after the Centre moved to scrap the special status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The state has been officially divided into the two Union Territories pursuant to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019, which the government passed in Parliament on August 5. The Central government had also that day abrogated Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
The Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh will be headed by Lieutenant Governors GC Murmu and RK Mathur, respectively.
This is for the first time in the history of India that a state is being converted into two Union Territories. The total number of states in the country will now be 28, while the total UTs will go up to nine.
With this, the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and the Ranbir Penal Code will cease to exist from Thursday October 31, when the nation celebrates ‘National Unity Day’ to mark the birth anniversary of the country’s first home minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who is credited for the merger of over 560 states into the Union of India.
The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will have a legislature like Puducherry while Ladakh will be a Union Territory without legislature like Chandigarh and both the Union Territories will be headed by two separate lieutenant governors (LG), as per the Act.
The Centre will be in direct control of the police and the law and order in Jammu and Kashmir from Thursday (Oct 31st) when it becomes a UT, while the land will be under the elected government there.
The Union Territory of Ladakh will be under the direct control of the central government which will administer the high-altitude region through the LG.
