Centre says Chandigarh Bill won’t be tabled in Winter Session

The Union Home Ministry has clarified that the Chandigarh bill, listed provisionally for the Winter Session, will not be introduced. The Centre said the proposal is only meant to simplify law-making for the UT and does not alter existing arrangements with Punjab or Haryana

New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry Sunday said that it has no intention to bring the proposed Bill on Chandigarh that intends to “simplify the law-making” process for the Centre in the upcoming Winter session of Parliament and asserted that the proposal doesn’t aim to change traditional arrangements between Chandigarh and Punjab and Haryana.

This comes a day after a bulletin of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha listed the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill 2025 among the provisional list of 10 bills for the upcoming session beginning December 1.

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The Bill that proposes to bring Chandigarh under the ambit of Article 240 of the Constitution, which empowers the president to make regulations for the UT and legislate directly, sparked sharp reactions from leaders in Punjab.

“A suitable decision will be taken only after adequate consultations with all stakeholders, keeping in mind the interests of Chandigarh. There is no need for any concern on this matter. The central government has no intention of introducing any Bill to this effect in the upcoming Winter session of Parliament,” the ministry said in a statement.

“The proposal only to simplify the central government’s law-making process for the Union territory of Chandigarh is still under consideration with the central government. No final decision has been taken on this proposal,” a spokesperson of the ministry said, allaying concerns raised on the matter.

The ministry said the proposal in no way seeks to alter Chandigarh’s governance or administrative structure, nor does it aim to change “traditional arrangements between Chandigarh and the states of Punjab or Haryana”.

Chandigarh is the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana. The Bill seeks to include the Union territory of Chandigarh in Article 240, in line with other UTs without legislatures, such as Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, and Daman & Diu, and Puducherry (when its legislative assembly is dissolved or suspended).

Article 240 of the Constitution grants power to the president to make regulations for the peace, progress, and effective governance of the Union territories of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, and Puducherry.

However, it said that when a body is created under Article 239A to function as a legislature for a Union territory (as is the case in Puducherry), the president shall not make any regulation with effect from the day of the first meeting of the legislature.

It also states that any regulation so made may repeal or amend any Act made by Parliament or any other law, which is for the time applying to the Union territory, and, when promulgated by the president, shall have the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament which applies to that territory.