The Bill has been cleared by the Union Ministries of Home, Law, Finance, Personnel, Environment and Forests as well as the Planning Commission. After receiving the Cabinet's go-ahead, it will be sent to the UP government for necessary action.

Resolutions for the creation of a separate state encompassing the hill districts were passed twice in the past (1992 and 1994) by the UP Assembly. The Union Home Ministry first sent a Bill to this effect to the Cabinet on August 8, 1996. It was cleared five days later, but the then United Front Government could not proceed any further.

The proposed state has 12 districts. Besides the existing Pithoragarh, Nainital, Almora, Pauri Garhwal, Chamoli, Tehri, Uttarkashi, Dehradun and Udham Singh Nagar (set up by Mayawati when she was UP ChiefMinister), the Bill provides for the creation of three new districts -- Champavat (carved out from Pithoragarh), Bageshwar (from Almora) and Rudra Prayag (from Chamoli).

Gersain, located mid-way between the Garhwal and Kumaon regions, has been envisaged as the new administrative headquarters. However, until the time it's developed, administration will function out of the secretariats already in Dehradun and Nainital.

The Bill also provides for the setting up of a 60-member, unicameral, legislature, as advocated by Article 170 of the Constitution. Its draft cites the topography of Himachal Pradesh, which has a 68-member House but a lesser population, for establishing the strength of the proposed state's assembly. The membership of the existing MLAs from the region will automatically be terminated and fresh elections will have to be held.

Till elections are held, the bill says, a 30-member provisional assembly will be set up to run the affairs of the state. Nineteen of its members will be the region'sMLAs to the UP assembly, the rest will be nominated by the zila parishads and other local self-governing bodies. Of the 19 MLAs hailing at present from the region, three belong to the Scheduled Caste and one to the Scheduled Tribe community. The assembly of the proposed state of Uttaranchal will have six seats reserved for SCs and one for STs. This is in keeping with their respective population (16.7 per cent and 3.5 per cent respectively) in the region. These seats will be fixed after a proper delimitation exercise is undertaken. UP at present sends 34 members to the Rajya Sabha. Once the separate state of Uttaranchal is carved out, it will be left with 31 members as the proposed bill sets aside three seats from the region to the Rajya Sabha. But the Law Ministry feels that the Union Government may retain the existing strength of Rajya Sabha members from UP, as the Rajya Sabha can have a total membership of 250 (It has 243 members now). The entire exercise would entail amending the Fourth Schedule of IndianConstitution. Citing the example of Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, which have a common High Court, the bill also seeks to establish one High Court for both UP and the new state of Uttaranchal with headquarters at Allahabad. The Law Ministry, in its note, says that the Union Government could establish a bench in state capital.

Similarly, there will be a common cadre of IAS and IPS officials for both Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal. At present Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories (AGMUT) and Assam-Meghalaya have common cadres. But the proposed state, the bill says, will be empowered to set up a separate public service commission for selecting officials for lower administrative levels.

The bill also provides for splitting the financial resources between UP and and the new state so as to enable the latter to carry out its administrative and developmental work. In this, it draws example from the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960, by which the states Maharashtra and Gujarat werecreated.

Proposed package