Article 240: President’s Power to Regulate Certain Union Territories

On 3 June 2025, the Centre set job quotas and domicile rules for Ladakh. No Parliament vote was needed. The tool was a presidential regulation. Article 240 lets the President make regulations for certain Union Territories. Each regulation has the force of an Act of Parliament. It is made, and can be unmade, by the Centre alone.

1Chapter 1: What Article 240 Lets the President Do

Must Know

Clause (1) and clause (2)

• The President may make regulations for the peace, progress and good government of certain Union Territories.
• This is clause (1).
• Under clause (2), a regulation can repeal or amend an Act of Parliament or any other law that applies there.
• Once the President promulgates it, it has the same force as an Act of Parliament.
• Parliament does not vote on it first.

Which territories are named

• The Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• Lakshadweep.
• Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
• Puducherry, with conditions.
• Ladakh, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir are not in this list.
• Other UTs are covered in The Union Territories and States and Union Territories of India.

Why the power exists

• Some Union Territories have no elected legislature of their own.
• No State-like body exists to make laws for them.
• Article 240 fills that gap. The President acts on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.
• It lets the Union govern directly, without waiting for Parliament to pass a separate law for each change.
• The “peace, progress and good government” standard is wide. It gives the Centre broad room.

2Chapter 2: The Puducherry Special Case

Must Know

A power that switches off and on

• Puducherry can have its own Legislature under Article 239A.
• The first proviso says the President makes no regulation once that Legislature holds its first meeting.
• The second proviso brings the power back. It applies if the Legislature is dissolved or its working is suspended.
• The power then lasts only for the period of the dissolution or suspension.
• So Article 240 is a tool for territories without a legislature. Where people elect an Assembly, the President steps back.

3Chapter 3: The 1956 Rewrite

Good to Know

From Part C and D to Union Territories

• The original 1950 article applied to the old Part C and Part D territories of the first federal design.
• The Seventh Amendment Act, 1956 substituted Article 240 entirely.
• It aligned the article with the new “Union Territory” category created along with the States Reorganisation Act.
• The map of the country had changed in 1956. The article had to name the territories it now covered.
• Later amendments changed the list and the provisos.
• Place the article correctly: Seventh Amendment, 1956.

Articles 239, 240 and 241

• A frequent exam pairing. Keep the three roles apart.
• Administrator = 239. President’s regulations = 240. High Court = 241.

4Chapter 4: Regulation vs Act

Good to Know

Same force, different makers

• In force, a regulation equals an Act. It applies with the same effect in that territory.
• In origin, it does not. The President makes it. The legislature does not.
• It can even change an Act of Parliament that applies there.
• The same unilateral act can amend or withdraw it.
• So it is not entrenched like a law passed by a legislature.
• Critics call this the weakness. A protection given by regulation can be taken away by regulation.
• That is the sharp exam point: executive in origin, legislative in force.

Draft vs promulgated

• A draft regulation has no legal force. Only the President’s formal act makes it law.
• In 2021, Lakshadweep’s Administrator proposed a draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation.
• It drew island-wide protests and was shelved.
• The episode shows the limits of the tool: proposed regulations are inert, promulgated ones are law.

5Chapter 5: Ladakh and the Sixth Schedule Demand

Great to Know

How Ladakh fits

• The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 made Ladakh a Union Territory without a legislature.
• Its legal footing rests on that Act, not on the list in Article 240.
• Do not say Ladakh is governed under Article 240 itself.
• Read Ladakh: Capital, Administration, and India’s Cold Desert.

The regulations of 3 June 2025

• The Centre notified new regulations for Ladakh, including the Ladakh Civil Services Decentralisation and Recruitment (Amendment) Regulation, 2025.
• Total reservation in government jobs is capped at 85%.
• Of this, 80% is for Scheduled Tribes, 4% for residents near the LoC and 1% for Scheduled Castes.
• Domicile needs 15 years of residence since 31 October 2019, or one of the other listed routes.
• English, Hindi, Urdu, Bhoti and Purgi were notified as official languages.
• Source: Insights on India.

Why groups still want more

• The Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance say these protections fall short.
• They press for Sixth Schedule status or statehood.
• Sixth Schedule safeguards are constitutionally entrenched. They survive any change of heart by the executive.
• A regulation the Centre can amend is weaker.
• Read The Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
• Sources: The Tribune and Drishti IAS.

6In the News: Chandigarh and Ladakh

Current Affairs

Chandigarh, November 2025

• A Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill was listed. It would have brought Chandigarh under Article 240.
• The Home Ministry then said it would not bring the bill in that Winter Session.
• It said the idea was still under consideration.

Reservation and domicile by regulation

• The 2025 Ladakh regulations on quota, domicile and languages show how far the route reaches.
• It extends from administration into jobs, domicile and language policy for a whole region.
• A current-affairs question on Ladakh’s job quota links back to this mechanism.

7Previous Year Questions

Exam angle: what examiners ask, and the traps around it.

Quick Q&A

• Who makes the regulations? The President.
• How many UTs are named? Four.
• Rewritten in? 1956.
• Ladakh quota cap? 85%.
• Domicile rule? 15 years since 31 Oct 2019.