From midnight, JK will cease to be a state; two new UTs to come into existence

New Delhi: History will be created on Thursday when Jammu and Kashmir, which has been part of the Union of India since 1947, will cease to be a state and will be bifurcated into two Union Territories.

IAS officers Girish Chandra Murmu and R K Mathur, who have been appointed the new Lieutenant Governors (LG) for the Union territories (UTs) of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh respectively, will be sworn-in at separate functions to be held in Srinagar and Leh on Thursday.

Both Murmu and Mathur will be sworn in by Chief Justice of J&K High Court Gita Mittal.

According to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, the appointed day for the two UTs is October 31 and these will come into existence in the midnight (Wednesday-Thursday), nearly three months after the announcement in Rajya Sabha.

This is for the first time that a state is converted into two UTs even though there are numerous example of a UT becoming a full state or a state bifurcating into two states.

The total number of states in the country will be now 28 while the total UTs will go up to seven.

The Narendra Modi government’s decision and subsequent approval of Parliament to abrogate the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and its bifurcation into two UTs was taken to redraw the map and future of a region at the centre of a protracted militancy movement.

The electoral promise of the BJP to end the special status of Jammu and Kashmir came less than 90 days after the Modi 2.0 government assumed power in May end.

The August 5 decision was taken 72 years after the then ruler of the princely state, Maharaja Hari Singh, executed the Instrument of Accession on October 26, 1947, making it part of the Union of India.

The two UTs will come into existence on the day of the birth anniversary country’s first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who is credited for the merger of over 560 states into the Union of India.

October 31 is observed as the National Unity Day and both Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday will attend separate functions – in Kevadia (Gujarat) and New Delhi respectively.

According to the Act, the UT of Jammu and Kashmir will have a legislature like Puducherry while Ladakh will be a UT without legislature like Chandigarh and both the UTs will be headed by two separate Lieutenant Governors (LG).

The Centre will be in direct control of the police and the law and order in Jammu and Kashmir from Thursday when it becomes a UT, while the land will be under the elected government there.

The UT of Ladakh will be under the direct control of the central government which will administer the high altitude region through the LG.

While moving the resolution in the Rajya Sabha that Article 370 – which allowed Jammu and Kashmir to have its own Constitution and prohibited outsiders from buying land and property in the state, Shah had said these provisions will no longer be applicable and the central government will restore its statehood at “appropriate time” and after “normalcy” returns.