The government has indicated that it will not place a bill before Parliament to bring Chandigarh under Article 240 of the Constitution, thereby preserving its existing governance framework. The clarification follows growing alarm in Punjab over a Parliamentary bulletin listing a draft Constitution Bill 2025 that would reclassify Chandigarh among Union Territories governed by presidential regulations.
Under the current arrangement, Chandigarh remains a Union Territory administered by the Governor of Punjab, while serving as the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana. The proposed amendment would have empowered the President to legislate directly for the territory, potentially opening the path for a separate Administrator or Lieutenant Governor. Article 240 applies to territories without legislatures, giving the President authority to frame regulations, which carry the same force as parliamentary legislation.
Critics among Punjab’s political class warned that the bill would undermine the state’s claim over the city and weaken its historic ties to Chandigarh. The re-emergence of such a proposal re-opened old wounds from the state’s reorganisation in 1966, after which Chandigarh was carved out as a separate territory while remaining the common capital for two states. Punjab’s leaders pointed out that assurances given in 1970 — signalling Chandigarh as Punjab’s rightful capital — risked being disregarded.
The government clarified that the proposal is currently under evaluation and emphasised that it does not intend to change the “traditional arrangements” between Chandigarh and the two states. It stated that no Bill will be introduced in the upcoming Winter Session of Parliament and that any future decision would follow broad stakeholder consultations. Even supporters of the amendment conceded that its primary aim appears to be administrative simplification rather than an overhaul of existing arrangements.
The episode underlines the sensitive political and constitutional dynamics around Chandigarh’s status. For many Punjabis, the city’s identity is deeply tied to the aftermath of the linguistic reorganisation of states and the legacy of the Punjabi Suba movement. Despite being a Union Territory for decades, Chandigarh has remained emblematic of Punjab’s post-partition identity, development ambitions and unresolved territorial commitments.
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