Two new Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh came into being on Thursday, putting into effect the reorganization of the erstwhile state. This comes after the implementation of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which got the President's assent on August 9. 

The bill to abrogate Article 370 and to bifurcate the state into two Union Territories was moved in Parliament on August 5 and passed the next day by both Houses, amidst much uproar. According to the Act, the UT of J&K will have a legislature while the UT of Ladakh will have no legislature. 

As per the Act, the respective UTs will have a Lieutenant-Governor as administrator who will be appointed by the President of India. The tenure will be determined by the President.

The Union Home Ministry in a gazette notification said that those central laws, ordinances and rules which were earlier not applicable to Jammu and Kashmir will now be applicable to the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The notification said that certain central laws and rules which were applicable to Jammu and Kashmir earlier would continue to be made applicable to the two newly-created UTs.

"However, the Kashmir UT being a Union Territory with Legislature shall have its own Goods and Services Tax, Act, 2017 whereas the Union Territory of Ladakh, being a Union Territory without Legislature shall be governed by the Union Territory Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017,” the notification read.

Ever since the abrogation of Article 370, the erstwhile state has been on lockdown, and hundreds of local politicians including former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti have been detained. Phone and internet services were shut for a month, and phone services were only restored for postpaid account holders. 

Following the state becoming two union territories, Girish Chandra Murmu took oath as the lieutenant governor of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.

"I am happy that from today onwards, all government employees of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will also start getting the benefits of the allowances approved by the Seventh Pay Commission," PM Modi said at an event held to commemorate the 144th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. 

With IANS inputs