Chandigarh flashpoint prompts Centre’s retreat

Facing cross-party backlash in Punjab, the Centre steps back from proposal to alter Chandigarh’s administrative structure. Archis Mohan reports

- Archis Mohan reports

Facing political blowback from every major party in Punjab, including the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, (BJP), the central government on Sunday pulled back, within a day, from its plan to introduce the 131st Constitution Amendment Bill.

The Bill, listed in the proposed legislative business for the Winter Session (December 1-19) and posted on the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha websites on Saturday, sought to “include Chandigarh in Article 240 of the Constitution to ensure uniform treatment as other Union Territories without legislature”. Article 240 empowers the President to make regulations for the “peace, progress and good government” of Union Territories.

India currently has eight UTs: Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), Ladakh, Delhi, Puducherry, Chandigarh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu.

Of these, Delhi and Puducherry have elected assemblies and councils of ministers under Articles 239AA and 230A. J&K, following its 2019 reorganisation and the abrogation of Article 370, falls under Article 239A and has a legislature, while Ladakh is governed under Article 239.

These UTs, though distinct from full-fledged states and overseen by Lieutenant Governors, allow citizens to elect lawmakers even as key functions, including law and order, remain under the LG’s domain. The remaining UTs are governed under Article 240 via presidential orders, with their administrators answerable to the President, and in practice to the Union Home Ministry.