The Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956, replaced the States in Part C and Territories in Part D of the First Schedule by the ‘Union Territories’, which, under Part II of the First Schedule (as amended) were then six in number Delhi, Himachal Pradesh; Manipur; Tripura; Andaman & Nicobar Islands; Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands.
Article 239(1) of the Constitution of India states that every Union territory shall be administered by the President acting, to such extent as he thinks fit, through an administrator to be appointed by him with such designation as he may specify. Further the President may appoint the Governor of a State as the administrator of an adjoining Union territory, and where a Governor is so appointed, he shall exercise his functions as such administrator independently of his Council of Ministers.
The Administrator of each Union territory has a functional responsibility independent of his peer Administrators in other Union territories. The Union territories are further subdivided into smaller administrative blocks for effective governance. Villages form the smallest area of administration. Each village has a representative administrative Gram Panchayat. A Gram Panchayat may have administrative control of a number of villages.