President Clears Way for High Court Bench in Ladakh, Invokes Article 240

New Delhi: In a significant move aimed at bringing the High Court closer to litigants in Ladakh, President Droupadi Murmu has promulgated a regulation enabling the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to hold sittings in the Union Territory of Ladakh. 

The Union Territory of Ladakh (Sitting of Bench of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh in Ladakh) Regulation, 2026, was promulgated on August 27 under Article 240 of the Constitution, read with Section 58(2) of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

The regulation provides the legal framework for a bench of the common High Court to sit in Ladakh. It states that the Judges and Division Courts of the High Court may sit at a place in Ladakh as may be appointed by the Chief Justice, with the approval of the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh.

At the same time, the regulation keeps the existing principal seat of the High Court unchanged. It also empowers the Chief Justice to direct that any case or class of cases arising in Ladakh may instead be heard at Srinagar or Jammu. The President has exercised a specific constitutional power under Article 240, which authorises the President to make regulations for the peace, progress and good government of certain Union Territories. 

The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, read with Article 240, provides the constitutional and statutory basis for such regulations in relation to Ladakh. Unlike a presidential ordinance under Article 123, the power under Article 240 is not conditioned on Parliament being in recess. Legal sources point out that there is, therefore, no requirement that Parliament must first be prorogued before the President can promulgate a regulation under Article 240.

The notification, however, provides that the regulation will come into force on a date to be specified by the Administrator of the Union Territory of Ladakh through a notification in the Official Gazette.