What is the reason for creating a separate administrative entity of a union territory?
Answers
As far as history goes, the union territories were either not a part of India during independence or they were too small to be made into a state as per the provision of the Constitution. During the discussion on reorganisation of states in 1956, the States Reorganisation Commission recommended creation of a different category for these territories since they neither fit the model of a state, nor do they follow a uniform pattern when it comes to governance.
It was observed that these “economically unbalanced, financially weak, and administratively and politically unstable” territories can’t survive as separate administrative units without depending heavily on the Union government. Thus the Union Territories were formed.
In certain cases, the government of India deliberately chose not to merge smaller territories with the neighbouring states due to a host of reasons. While in some cases the status of “Union Territory” was assigned to a region for safeguarding the rights of indigenous cultures, there had been other instances wherein a portion of geographical landmass was made into a union territory to maintain military prowess and also to avert political turmoil.