Centre steps back from Chandigarh plan amid cross-party backlash in Punjab

Facing cross-party backlash in Punjab, the Centre steps back from proposal to alter Chandigarh's administrative structure. Archis Mohan reports

Facing political blowback from every major party in Punjab, including the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the central government on Sunday pulled back, within a day, from its plan to introduce the 131st Constitution Amendment Bill. 

The Bill, listed in the proposed legislative business for the Winter Session (December 1-19) and posted on the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha websites on Saturday, sought to “include Chandigarh in Article 240 of the Constitution to ensure uniform treatment as other Union Territories without legislature”. Article 240 empowers the President to make regulations for the “peace, progress and good government” of Union Territories. 

India currently has eight UTs: Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), Ladakh, Delhi, Puducherry, Chandigarh, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu. 

Of these, Delhi and Puducherry have elected assemblies and councils of ministers under Articles 239AA and 239A. J&K, following its 2019 reorganisation and the abrogation of Article 370, falls under Article 239A and has a legislature, while Ladakh is governed under Article 239. 

These UTs, though distinct from full-fledged states and overseen by Lieutenant Governors, allow citizens to elect lawmakers even as key functions, including law and order, remain under the LG’s domain. The remaining UTs are governed under Article 240 via presidential orders, with their administrators answerable to the President, and in practice to the Union Home Ministry. 

Chandigarh sits between these two categories. It has neither an Assembly nor a chief minister, and is run by an Administrator -- held, since 1984, as additional charge by the Governor of Punjab. While Chandigarh serves as the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, this structure recognises the city’s organic link to Punjab, says former bureaucrat K B S Sidhu. 

On Sunday, after objections mounted in Punjab, the Centre said no final decision had been taken and insisted it did not intend to alter traditional arrangements between the UT and the states. “The proposal only to simplify the central government’s law-making process for the UT of Chandigarh is still under consideration with the central government. No final decision has been taken on this proposal,” an MHA spokesperson said. 

The ministry said the proposal did not seek to change Chandigarh’s governance or administrative structure, nor the “traditional arrangements between Chandigarh and the states of Punjab or Haryana.” Any decision, it added, would follow consultations with stakeholders. It stressed the government had no plan to introduce any such Bill in the upcoming Winter Session. By Sunday, the tentative legislative agenda was inaccessible on the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha websites. 

The Centre’s clarification followed sharp criticism from Punjab’s both ruling Aam Aadmi Party, and the Opposition Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal, which accused it of trying to “snatch Chandigarh from Punjab” by paving the way for an independent administrator similar to the pre-1984 arrangement. 

“Chandigarh, built by razing our Punjab’s villages, belongs solely to Punjab. We will not let our right slip away just like that. For this, we will take whatever steps are necessary,” Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said on Saturday. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal alleged that “the BJP-led central government's attempt to eliminate Punjab’s rights over Chandigarh through constitutional amendment is not part of a simple move, but a direct attack on Punjab's identity and constitutional rights.” Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal said the amendment would turn Chandigarh into a state, leading Punjab to completely lose its right over Chandigarh. 

On Sunday, Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar said he would meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the issue. Earlier, in a post on X, Jakhar said: “Chandigarh is an integral part of Punjab, and the Punjab BJP stands firmly with the interests of the state.” 

Punjab was reorganised on November 1, 1966, after which Chandigarh became the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana. The city was initially administered by a chief secretary, and since June 1, 1984, by the Punjab governor with the chief secretary converted into adviser to the UT administrator. In August 2016, the Centre attempted to restore an independent administrator by appointing former IAS officer K J Alphons, but withdrew the move after objections from then Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, part of the NDA, and other parties. 

Experts such as Sidhu note Punjab’s long-standing demand for Chandigarh’s restoration to the state. He says a 1970 communication from then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi accepted the principle of transfer. The 1985 Rajiv Gandhi-Harchand Singh Longowal Accord went further, promising that Chandigarh would be handed over to Punjab. 

Earlier this year, in January 2025, an attempt to redesignate the adviser to the administrator as “chief secretary, Chandigarh” prompted protests, as it was viewed as an effort to dilute the 60:40 sharing of posts between Punjab and Haryana and push toward a UT-specific bureaucracy. 

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