Srinagar: Nearly three months after the central government scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s decades-old special status under Article 370, the state has officially been split into two Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh – from midnight. Following the creation of the two Union Territories, the President’s rule imposed in undivided Jammu and Kashmir has been revoked, according to a government notification.
It was announced in the Rajya Sabha, on August 5, to divide Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories.
In a notification issued late last night by the Home Ministry, the Jammu and Kashmir division of the ministry announced several steps, including the implementation of central laws in the state. Both Union Territories will be headed by Lieutenant Governor (LG) Girish Chandra Murmu and RK Mathur respectively.
Girish Chandra Murmu, a former bureaucrat from Gujarat, is to take oath as the first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir UT, while former IAS officer Radha Krishna Mathur will be sworn in as the first Lt. Governor of the Union territory of Ladakh in a simple ceremony at Leh.
The chief justice of the high court Geeta Mittal would administer the oath of office to both Lt. Governors.
The implementation of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which got President’s assent on August 9, means the special status enjoyed by Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 comes to an end after 72 years.
According to the Act, the UT of J&K will have a legislature while the UT of Ladakh will have no legislature.
