SRINAGAR, Sept 10: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) to deliberate on around 8-10 key issues and reach a consensus before the drafting of a constitutional amendment under Article 371 for Ladakh, Chief Secretary Ashish Kundra said on Thursday.
Addressing a press conference, Kundra, who participated in a Sub-Committee meeting with Ladakh representatives in New Delhi on Wednesday, said discussions had progressed on creating a Union Territory-level elected body under a special constitutional framework for Ladakh.
He said LAB and KDA representatives had agreed that elections to the proposed UT-level body should be held directly through constituencies rather than indirectly through the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDCs).
However, several issues regarding the powers and functioning of the proposed body are yet to be settled.
"There are certain questions regarding the relationship between the LAHDCs and the UT-level body, what powers will come under the jurisdiction of the LAHDCs and what powers will come under the UT-level body," Kundra said.
He said a list of around 8-10 questions had been shared with the representatives, who have been asked to deliberate on them, consult among themselves and with the people, and convey their views to the Centre.
"The Ministry of Home Affairs has already started working on it. As I said, we have given them a set of questions. Through you, I would request that we receive the answers to those questions as soon as possible so that we can forward them to the Ministry of Home Affairs," he said.
Kundra said the next meeting between the Centre and Ladakh representatives would be held in the first half of October, with the objective of moving towards a draft after reaching consensus on the basic principles.
He said the Centre did not want to impose any governance model on Ladakh that was not acceptable to its people.
"Before preparing a document, there has to be agreement on the principles. Legal drafting of the Bill will follow once there is agreement on those principles," he said.
The Chief Secretary said the dialogue was aimed at addressing the aspirations of Ladakh's people, including protection of land, culture, heritage, mineral resources, environment and employment. He said reservation in jobs had already been provided for Ladakh, while the Centre had conveyed that constitutional protection would be provided for other concerns.
Kundra said the proposed governance structure would comprise panchayats at the grassroots, followed by the LAHDCs and the proposed UT-level elected body.
He stressed that the proposal involved a constitutional amendment and not ordinary legislation. Such an amendment requires a two-thirds majority in Parliament and follows a prescribed parliamentary process.
Clarifying that the proposal would not amount to restoration of statehood, Kundra said Ladakh was earlier part of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir and later became a Union Territory.
He said the Centre and Ladakh leadership were working towards a "sui generis" model that would provide an elected body with legislative, executive and financial powers.
"It will not be a state, and it will not be a Union Territory with a legislature in the conventional sense. It will be some other kind of body which will have these powers," he said, adding that its nomenclature had not yet been finalised.
Kundra said the proposal had emerged after the Centre discussed Ladakh's earlier demand for inclusion under the Sixth Schedule and explained its limitations.
On demands for an early draft, he appealed for patience, saying the Centre wanted the final arrangement to emerge through consultation.
Regarding the September 24 incident last year, Kundra said cases identified for withdrawal would be sent to the Lieutenant Governor, while a proposal on compensation would also be forwarded for consideration.
He appealed to Ladakh's leadership to maintain a positive atmosphere, saying the dialogue was progressing in good faith and urging representatives to submit their responses at the earliest so that the drafting process could move forward.
