President's Regulation-Making Power for Union Territories (Article 240)

President regulations UT refers to the law-making authority the President of India holds under Article 240 of the Constitution to frame regulations for the peace, progress and good government of certain Union territories that lack their own legislature. This power lets the Union executive fill the legislative vacuum in these territories, and a regulation so made carries the same legal force as an Act of Parliament.

What Article 240 Provides

Article 240(1) authorises the President to make regulations for the peace, progress and good government of four Union territories:

• The Andaman and Nicobar Islands
• Lakshadweep
• Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
• Puducherry

These are territories that, for most of their existence, have not had an elected legislature making laws for them in the way a State Assembly or Parliament does. Article 240 was designed to plug that gap: instead of leaving such territories without any law-making mechanism, the Constitution vests a regulation-making power directly in the President.

Article 240(2) clarifies the legal weight of these regulations. A regulation made under this power may repeal or amend any Act of Parliament, or any other law, that is otherwise applicable to that Union territory. Once promulgated by the President, the regulation has the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament applying to that territory. In effect, the President's regulation-making power under Article 240 substitutes for ordinary parliamentary legislation in these specific territories.

The Puducherry Exception

Puducherry is treated differently once it acquires an elected body. Article 239A permits Parliament to create, by law, a Legislature (elected or partly elected/partly nominated) and a Council of Ministers for the Union territory of Puducherry, with powers and functions specified in that law. Article 240 carries a proviso addressing what happens once such a Legislature is functioning.

The first proviso to Article 240(1) states that once a body created under Article 239A begins functioning as the Legislature for Puducherry, the President stops making regulations for that territory from the date appointed for the first meeting of that Legislature. In other words, the President's regulation-making power under Article 240 is a stand-in arrangement — it recedes once Puducherry has its own working Legislature to make laws.

A second proviso restores the President's power in specific circumstances: if the Puducherry Legislature is dissolved, or if its functioning remains suspended because of action taken under the Article 239A law, the President may, during that period of dissolution or suspension, resume making regulations for the peace, progress and good government of the territory. This ensures Puducherry is never left without a functioning law-making mechanism, whether through its own Legislature or, in its absence, through presidential regulations.

How Article 240 Fits into the Administration of Union Territories

Article 240 must be read alongside the other provisions governing Union territories in Part VIII of the Constitution:

Article	Subject
Article 239	Administration of Union territories by the President, generally through an administrator appointed by him, with a Governor of an adjoining State sometimes appointed as administrator
Article 239A	Parliament's power to create a Legislature and/or Council of Ministers for the Union territory of Puducherry
Article 240	President's power to make regulations for the peace, progress and good government of specified Union territories
Article 241	Parliament's power to constitute a High Court for a Union territory

Read together, these articles show a layered scheme: Article 239 covers day-to-day administration through an administrator; Article 239A allows Parliament to graft a representative legislature onto a Union territory; and Article 240 supplies the President with a direct regulation-making power for territories where such a legislature does not exist or is not currently functioning. The regulation-making power under Article 240, being exercised by the President, is in practice exercised on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, consistent with the general position under Article 74 that the President acts on ministerial advice in the exercise of executive and allied functions.

Why This Power Exists

The Union territories named in Article 240 are administratively small and, for extended periods, have not had their own elected law-making body. Leaving them without any legislative mechanism would create a governance gap — ordinary laws could not be updated, adapted, or repealed to suit local conditions. Article 240 addresses this by allowing the President to legislate directly for these territories through regulations, without needing to route every change through the full parliamentary process. Because a regulation can repeal or amend existing Acts of Parliament applicable to the territory, it functions as a complete substitute for territorial legislation, not merely a subordinate or delegated rule-making power.

UPSC Relevance

Prelims

• Article 240 lists the specific Union territories for which the President can make regulations: Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and Puducherry.
• A regulation under Article 240 has the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament applicable to that territory.
• The Puducherry proviso: presidential regulation-making stops once the Article 239A Legislature holds its first meeting, and resumes if that Legislature is dissolved or suspended.
• Article 239 (administration via administrator), Article 239A (Puducherry Legislature/Council of Ministers), and Article 241 (High Courts for Union territories) are the companion provisions in the same constitutional scheme.

Mains

• Discuss how Article 240 reflects the constitutional approach to administering Union territories that lack a full-fledged legislature, and how this arrangement changes once a territory like Puducherry acquires an elected body.
• Examine the significance of a regulation under Article 240 having the same force as a parliamentary Act, and what this implies for the President's (in practice, the Union Council of Ministers') law-making role in these territories.

FAQ

Q1. For which Union territories can the President make regulations under Article 240? The Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, and Puducherry.

Q2. What is the legal effect of a regulation made under Article 240? It may repeal or amend any Act of Parliament or other law applicable to that Union territory, and once promulgated, it has the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament applying to that territory.

Q3. Does the President continue to make regulations for Puducherry even after it gets an elected Legislature? No. Once a body created under Article 239A functions as the Legislature for Puducherry, the President's regulation-making power under Article 240 ceases from the date appointed for the first meeting of that Legislature.

Q4. Can the President's regulation-making power for Puducherry ever resume after the Legislature is set up? Yes. If the Puducherry Legislature is dissolved, or its functioning is suspended under action taken pursuant to the Article 239A law, the President may resume making regulations during that period.

Q5. Does the President exercise the Article 240 power personally? No. Like other executive functions of the President, this power is exercised on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers, in line with Article 74.

Quick Revision

• Article 240: President's regulation-making power for select Union territories.
• Covers: Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Puducherry.
• Regulation = same force as an Act of Parliament for that territory; can repeal/amend existing applicable laws.
• Puducherry proviso 1: power stops once Article 239A Legislature has its first meeting.
• Puducherry proviso 2: power resumes if that Legislature is dissolved or suspended.
• Related: Article 239 (administrator-based administration), Article 239A (Puducherry Legislature), Article 241 (High Courts for UTs).

Sources

• The Constitution of India, Article 240 — legislative.gov.in
• The Constitution of India, Article 239A — legislative.gov.in
• The Constitution of India, Article 239 — legislative.gov.in
• The Constitution of India, Article 241 — legislative.gov.in

Further Reference

For deeper reading on this topic and the wider polity syllabus, these standard works are recommended:

• M. Laxmikanth, Indian Polity (McGraw Hill) — the standard UPSC handbook.
• D.D. Basu, Introduction to the Constitution of India (LexisNexis) — authoritative constitutional-law treatment.
• The Constitution of India — Bare Act — the official text.

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, UPSC.wiki earns from qualifying purchases — at no extra cost to you.