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As of January 26, 2020, the eight union territories in India are Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep, Pondicherry, Delhi, Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir. But have you ever wondered if these union territories work like states or what enables Parliament to create legislatures in these territories? Well, you’d be surprised to learn that some UTs have legislatures while others do not. A UT with a legislature like Delhi has its own assembly and elects MLAs; it’s like they have partial statehood, while UTs without a legislature like Chandigarh does not have any elected representatives. Let’s understand the provisions related to it in detail.
Administration of Union Territories
According to Article 239(1) of the Constitution, Parliament by law states that the President can appoint an administrator as and when he feels, and also has the power to appoint a Governor of a State as the administrator of adjoining territory, who, in conclusion, has the powers to execute his functions.
Creation of Legislatures or Council of Ministers
Article 239A enables Parliament to create legislatures which can be bodies of elected, partly elected, or partly nominated people. Parliament is also vested with the powers to create a Council of Ministers or it can create both of the categories for certain Union Territories. Though Article 239AA states some special provisions for the National Capital Territory of Delhi, It has been mentioned in the Constitution that Delhi would be referred to as the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the administrator would be referred to as the Lieutenant Governor.
Currently, the Government of Delhi is the authority of the National Capital Territory of Delhi and its 11 districts, and its body consists of the judiciary, legislature, and executive headed by the Lieutenant Governor. The constitution also states that the members of a legislative assembly in the NCT of Delhi will be selected by the process of direct election from territorial constituencies.
Except for law and order, the Legislative Assembly of Delhi has the authority to enact legislation on any subject. In Delhi, the role of the Centre is more essential than that of the Lieutenant Governor, who serves as the Centre’s eyes and ears.
Provisions in case of failure of constitutional machinery
Article 239 (AB) discusses the failure of constitutional machinery. But first, to understand this, let’s learn what constitutional machinery actually means.
It is a body of the elected persons or the government of a particular territory whose members are authorised to manage the particular territory, the failure of which led the President to work upon it by taking charge.
Article 239B states the administrator also has the power to promulgate ordinances during the recess of the Legislature, which means an administrator can set in action a law or order that is not mentioned in state laws. For example, safety and building regulations.
Power of the President to make regulations for certain Union territories
Article 240 deals with the powers of the President for regulating Union territories and these are – Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Puducherry. As we have already learnt that the law enables Parliament to create legislatures but the President can only exercise his powers when this legislature has been suspended.
The President has no power to make regulations for the peace, progress and good governance with effect from the date appointed for the first meeting of the Legislature.
High Courts for Union territories
Article 241 of the Constitutions deals with the high courts for Union territories. The Parliament by law can make a court in the territory the High Court for any of the Constitution’s purposes. It also states that any High Court that had jurisdiction over any Union Territory before the creation of the Constitution will continue to do so, subject to the Constitution’s or the Legislature’s requirements.
As a result, the Punjab and Haryana High Court serves as the Chandigarh High Court; the Kerala High Court has jurisdiction over the Lakshadweep; the Calcutta High Court has jurisdiction over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; the Madras High Court has jurisdiction over Pondicherry; and the Bombay High Court has jurisdiction over the Daman and Diu Territory. Since 1966, the city of Delhi has had its own High Court.
Article 242 – Constitution Of India [Coorg.] Repealed by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956.
Conclusion
Throughout the article, we learnt how a union territory works, administers and regulates but what we have not paid attention to was how the Union Territory was formed in the first place. Well, the union territories were either not a part of India after independence or were too tiny to be formed into a state, according to the Constitution’s provisions. Furthermore, in 1956, the States Reorganisation Commission suggested that these regions be classified as Union Territories.
And so far we learnt that the Constitution is the soul of a country that has the same rules and regulations for its people but under special circumstances, the rules vary particularly for a region or territory of our country. Like, law enables Parliament to create legislatures, our National capital has special provisions and is referred to as the National Capital Territory of Delhi and also that the President has no power to make regulations for the peace, progress and good governance until the legislature has been suspended.
