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At present, India has 28 states and 8 union territories. Ladakh and Jammu Kashmir are the two newly added union territories of India. In India, there are two types of governments. The central government and the state government. The central government administers the whole country while the state government of each state looks after those states. There are also union territories in India. They do not have state governments to administer them. The president is in charge of these union territories and runs them with the help of a council of ministers and lieutenant governor.
The union territories
The union territories are administrative areas in India that do not have their own governments and areas and are administered by the union government of India. Presently, the number of reunion territories in India is eight.
The law to amend the constitution provides, and union territory with the legislature has been implemented for Pondicherry and Delhi. Both of these union territories have a council of ministers and chief ministers.
The current eight union territories of India include Chandigarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep islands, Ladakh and Pondicherry. Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura were the former union territories that are now considered states.
The Lieutenant Governor and Council of Ministers
The president of India is the head of all the union territories of India. The president then appoints an administrator who is called the lieutenant governor for each union territory. The term of the lieutenant governor is usually 5 years. Delhi, Pondicherry, Jammu, and Kashmir are ruled differently from the union territories. They have a legislature of their own and a council of ministers.
The lieutenant governor doesn’t play many roles in the administration of these union territories. However, in the union territories like Ladakh and Andaman Nicobar Islands, the lieutenant governor has more control and power and is the head of the government as well as the state. The rest of the union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, and Lakshadweep islands have an administrator to rule over them, not a lieutenant governor or council of ministers.
These administrators are usually chosen from the Indian Police Service IPS and the Indian Administrative Service, IAS. However, there has been an exception to this rule. Praful Khoda Patel, who is a politician and not an IAS officer or an IPS officer, has been the administrator of Dadara and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. After the passing of Dineshwar Sharma, Praful Khoda Patel was also appointed as the administrator for the islands of Lakshadweep. There is another exception to this law.
The governor of Punjab has been appointed as the ex-officio administrator for the union territory of Chandigarh since the year 1985. He was also a politician and not an IAS or the IPS officer before that. Let us learn about the various lieutenant governors and the administrators of the union territories who have legislature and council of ministers and the union territories that do not.
The union territories with the lieutenant governor
The Andaman and the Nicobar Islands do not have any legislative assembly or council of ministers. The lieutenant governor’s name is Devendra Kumar Joshi, who took office on 8 November 2017. Devendra Kumar Singh was appointed by Ram Nath Kovind and has been the President of India since 25 July 2017.
Delhi, which is the capital of India, is also a union territory, but unlike the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Delhi also has a legislative assembly and a council of ministers. Anil Baijal is the current lieutenant governor of Delhi, appointed by Pranab Mukherjee, the previous president of India. He has been the lieutenant governor of Delhi since 31 December 2016. The states of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, and Pondicherry also have Lieutenant governors who oversee their administration.
The union territories with administrator
Following are the union territories that have administrators.
- Chandigarh: The current administrator of Chandigarh is Banwarilal Purohit.
- Praful Khoda Patel is the administrator of Dadara and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Praful Khoda Patel also looks after the administration of Lakshadweep islands.
All of these administrators were appointed by the President of India.
Conclusion
India is ruled by the union government as well as the state government. However, there are certain territories in India that are too small to be declared states and are independent. Hence, they were declared the union territories, and the Union government looked after their administration. The president of India is the head of such union territories. The president appoints an administrator or lieutenant governor to administer for each union territory. Some of the union territories like Delhi, Pondicherry, Jammu, and Kashmir have a council of ministers and a legislature as well.
