New Delhi: At the stroke of midnight on October 31, Jammuand Kashmir was formally bifurcated into two Union Territories - Jammu andKashmir and Ladakh. Now, the Central laws, Ordinances and rules will beapplicable to the UTs. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, cameinto existence from midnight.

On Thursday, Girish Chandra Murmu, a former bureaucrat fromGujarat, is to take oath as the first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmirwhile former IAS officer RK Mathur will be sworn in as the first Lt. Governorof Ladakh.

Nearly three months after the Narendra Modi-led NDAgovernment abrogated Article 370 that gave special status to J&K, the statewas officially bifurcated into two Union Territories.  Following the creation of the two UTs, the President'srule imposed in undivided Jammu and Kashmir has been revoked.

As mentioned above, apart from all Central laws, at least108 new laws will become applicable to the two newly-created UTs. Some of theminclude the Goods and Service Tax Act, National Human Rights Commission Act,Central Information Act, the Enemy Property Act and The Prevention of Damage toPublic Property Act.

It must be noted that the two UTs come into existence on thebirth anniversary of first Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who iscredited with the merger of over 560 princely states into the Union of India.

With the bifurcation of J&K, India now officially has 28states and nine Union Territories. While J&K will have a legislature likePuducherry, Ladakh will not have one, like Chandigarh.

Under the special status, which was earlier given toJ&K, those living in the state were governed under a separate set of lawsas compared to other Indians. However, the abrogation of Article 370 means thatJ&K will no longer have a separate flag. People from around the countrywill have the liberty to buy property in J&K and settle there and alsoapply for jobs.

The Centre will have direct control of the police and thelaw and order in J&K and the land will be under the elected governmentthere. Meanwhile, Ladakh will be under the direct control of the centralgovernment which will administer the region through the Lieutenant Governor.

J&K will have its own Legislative Assembly. At present,the total strength of the Assembly is 83, but the strength will go up by sevenseats. The council of ministers will be trimmed to 10% of the total strength ofthe legislature.

While J&K will continue to have five MPs in the LokSabha, Ladakh will have one MP. Similarly, J&K will have four MPs in theRajya Sabha

With the reorganisation of the state, the J&KLegislative Council, also known as Upper House, has been abolished.

The two new UTs will now have a common high court - theJ&K High Court. The judges of the existing court shall become judges of thecommon high court, as per the Act. There will be a separate advocate generalfor the J&K UT.

The Transfer of Property Act, The Jammu and KashmirAlienation of Land Act, The Jammu and Kashmir Land Grants Act and The Jammu andKashmir Agrarian Reforms Act are among seven such laws that have been amended.

The government employees of the new UTs will get salariesand other benefits as per the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission fromOctober 31.

Here's a recap of the notable changes that come into effectfrom now onwards.

- J&K UT geography: The new J&K Union Territory willcomprise the territories of current Jammu and Kashmir regions.

- Law and order will remain with the Centre, which now alsohas the power to declare a financial emergency under Article 360 in the state.

- LG replaces Governor: The Governor of current J&K willbe the Lt Governor of the J&K and Ladakh UTs.

- J&K to function like Puducherry: The provision ofArticle 239A applicable to Puducherry UT will be applicable to new J&KUnion Territory.

- Tenure of Assembly: New Assembly will have a term of 5years in place of the current 6 years.

- Strength of Assembly: New Assembly will have 107 MLAs. Outof these, 24 seats will be left vacant of PoK region.

- Current Assembly: The outgoing Assembly had 111 members,in which 87 were elected members, 2 were nominated, while 24 seats in PoK were leftvacant.

- Nominated members: Under the new law, LG can nominate twowomen representatives in the J&K Assembly if he/she feels there is an inadequatefemale representation.

- Rajya Sabha seats: Rajya Sabha to continue to host 4sitting members from the current J&K

- Lok Sabha Seats: Five Lok Sabha seats have been allocatedto J&K Union Territory and 1 for Ladakh UT.

- LG can reserve his consent: All the bills passed by theAssembly will be sent to LG for his consent.

- LG can give his assent, withhold it or send the bill for considerationof the President.

- Parliament to have primacy: If there is any inconsistency,Law by Parliament will prevail over any law passed by the new Assembly.

- Council of Ministers: CM will have a council of ministersconsisting not more than 10% of the total members of the Assembly.

- J&K state at the 15 position has been deleted from theStates List in the First Schedule of the Constitution.

- A new entry of J&K UT has been added in the UnionTerritories list at the 8th position in the First Schedule of the Constitution.

- Delimitation: Union government proposes delimitation ofJ&K Assembly.

- Govt proposes to increase the number of seats from 107 to114.

- Delimitation would happen on the basis of 2011 census.

- High Courts: J&K and Ladakh will continue to have acommon High Court.

- The day will be marked by GC Murmu being sworn in as thefirst lieutenant governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

- Another former civil servant, Radha Krishna Mathur, willtake office as the lieutenant governor of Ladakh, the Buddhist-dominatedregion.

- While UT of Ladakh will not have an assembly and will bedirectly governed by the Union Home Ministry through the L-G, Kashmir will havean assembly and will largely work along the lines of the Delhi model but rulesto govern the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 are yet to benotified.

- All the commission will be dissolved, state human rightcommission, women’s commission, information commission, accountably commission.However public service commission will stay for some time.

- The government employees of the new UTs will get salariesand other benefits as per the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission fromOctober 31.

- People from around the country will have the liberty tobuy property in J&K and settle there and also apply for jobs.