Centre notifies new domicile, reservation policy for Ladakh; caps reservation at 85%, excluding EWS
Amid demands by Ladakhi civil society groups seeking 'constitutional safeguards' for the region, the Union Government on Tuesday (June 3, 2025) notified new policies on reservation, languages, domiciles, and the composition of hill councils for Ladakh, which became a Union Territory in 2019.
The notifications pave the way for 85% reservation for resident Ladakhis in government jobs. For other residents — including children of Central government officials — to be considered 'domiciles', they will have to show 15 years of continuous residence in the UT from October 31, 2019, Ladakh's foundation day.
In a first, a third of the seats in hill councils have been reserved for women on a rotational basis. The official languages of the UT will be English, Hindi, Urdu, Bhoti, and Purgi.
The total reservation for government jobs in the Union Territory now stands at 95%, one of the highest in the country. Meghalaya has 85% reservation for Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SCs/STs) and Arunachal Pradesh has an 80% quota for STs.
The Rules governing the Regulation, which are yet to be notified, will specify the categories covered under reservation. Around 80% of Ladakh's population of 2.74 lakh is around 80% tribal, according to the 2011 Census.
Cherring Dorjay Lakruk, the president of the Ladakh Buddhist Association and co-convenor of the Leh Apex Body (LAB), who is also part of the high-powered committee which has been deliberating the constitutional safeguards with the government, told The Hindu that they were studying the multiple notifications published on Tuesday.
Three other Regulations were also notified by President Murmu: The Ladakh Official Languages Regulation, 2025; The Ladakh Civil Services Decentralisation and Recruitment (Amendment) Regulation, 2025; and The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (Amendment) Regulation, 2025.
The decentralisation and recruitment Regulation is applicable to 'all the Gazetted and non-Gazetted posts' in the UT. Its Rules, also notified by the MHA on Tuesday, specified the criteria to qualify as a 'domicile' to apply for government jobs.
The Rules empower the tehsildar to issue the domicile certificates to anyone who has resided for a period of 15 years in the UT from October 31, 2019.
Anyone who has studied for a period of seven years and appeared in the Class 10 or 12 examination in Ladakh, children of Central government officials, All India Services officers, officials of public sector undertakings and autonomous bodies of the Central government, public sector banks, among others, who have served in Ladakh for a total period of ten years from October 31, 2019, are also eligible to be domiciles.
The regulation to amend the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1997 said that '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 Ladakh Official Languages Regulation, 2025 said that 'English, Hindi, Urdu, Bhoti and Purgi' shall be the official languages, adding that 'institutional mechanisms shall make special efforts for the promotion and development of other native languages of Ladakh: Shina (Dardic), Brokskat (Dardic), Balti and Ladakhi.'
Both the hill councils and official languages regulations will come into effect from June 3.
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