The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), an elected body managing governance issues in the Union Territory (UT), on Thursday moved a resolution, seeking Constitutional safeguards for land, environment, employment, business and cultural resources.
“These safeguards could be [offered] either under Sixth Schedule or Article 371 or Domicile Act of the Constitution to protect the tribal rights,” reads the resolution, which was moved by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Tsering Samdup, deputy chairman of the LAHDC.
The resolution was supported by three other members in the general council. Ladakh Member Parliament Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, also a BJP leader, was also present on the occasion.
The resolution, which was moved during an extraordinary meeting of the general council of the LAHDC, said, “Owning to distinct socio-cultural aspect, strategic location and fragile ecosystem, the general public cutting across all sections of society have been demanding constitutional rights for protection of land, employment, environment, business and culture”.
The resolution also called for giving complete control over subjects like ownership and transfer of land, employment, natural resources and culture to the LAHDC.
Ladakh was carved out as a separate UT on August 5, 2019. However, the LAHDC, which has 26 elected councillors, was not dissolved in the UT, which is without a legislature.
“The resolution is vague and has no solid fundamental. There was no clear demand for the Sixth Schedule,” Gurmet Dorjey, a Congress councillor, said. He staged a walkout when the resolution was moved.
Meanwhile, the LAHDC-Kargil, a separate elected body for Kargil district, neither supported or opposed the resolution.
“It’s not acceptable. Kargil has its own council. The leadership in Kargil has already demanded the restoration of the August 4 position,” Sajjad Kargili, who contested the parliamentary elections, said.
