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President Droupadi Murmu has promulgated a regulation providing for the establishment of a sitting bench of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in the Union Territory of Ladakh.

The Union Territory of Ladakh (Sitting of Bench of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh in Ladakh) Regulation, 2026, notified by the Ministry of Law and Justice on August 27, 2026, is aimed at facilitating the functioning of the common High Court in Ladakh.

The regulation, numbered Regulation No. 10 of 2026, has been promulgated under Article 240 of the Constitution, read with Section 58(2) of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019.

Under the new regulation, the principal seat of the common High Court will continue to remain at the same place where the principal seat of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh was located immediately before the regulation comes into force.

However, the regulation enables Judges and Division Courts of the High Court to sit at a place or places within the Union Territory of Ladakh. Such arrangements may be made by the Chief Justice, with the approval of the Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh.

The regulation also gives the Chief Justice discretion to direct that any case or class of cases arising in Ladakh be heard at Srinagar or Jammu, depending on the circumstances.

The regulation will extend to the whole of the Union Territory of Ladakh and will come into force on a date to be appointed by the Administrator of Ladakh through a notification in the Official Gazette.

The regulation follows the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, under which Ladakh became a separate Union Territory while continuing to share the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

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