A tradition of a century and a half is set to be broken in Jammu and Kashmir, with only “sensitive records” being taken from Jammu to Srinagar this summer, unlike in previous years when the entire administration and records would be shifted during “Durbar Move”.
Darbar Move in Jammu and Kashmir is an age-old tradition which involves moving the capital of the region twice a year.
Under this move, the government will function in the summer capital of the state i.e. Srinagar, from May till late October. It will later move to Jammu, the winter capital, in the first week of November to escape the extreme weather conditions.
When the shift takes place, Srinagar usually receives a facelift every year and all security measures are taken into consideration for the smooth functioning of the offices there. Also, almost hundreds of trucks are loaded to carry files, documents, furniture which are packed in bundles, cartons and transported to other capital.
Durbar Move is a tradition started 149 years ago started by the erstwhile Dogra rulers who hailed from Jammu, but had expanded their boundaries to Kashmir including what is now Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and Ladakh.
Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh are very different from one another geographically, linguistically and culturally, and in those days were poorly connected by road.
It is generally understood that the Durbar Move was started to take the administration to the doorstep of the people of Kashmir which is closer to Ladakh.
During summer, ruling from Kashmir also helped in ensuring adequate supplies to Ladakh, which is closer to Kashmir than Jammu, before the winter snowfall would cut off Ladakh.
In recent years, many criticised the government for spending nearly Rs 200 crore on this exercise every year when it did not have enough funds even to pay salary to its employees.
Last year, the Jammu & Kashmir High Court observed that there was no legal justification or constitutional basis for the Darbar Move tradition. Pointing out that the practice has resulted in wastage of tremendous amount of time, efforts and energy on inefficient and unnecessary activity, a Division Bench comprising then Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Rajnesh Oswal observed that valuable resources of the state (financial and physical) cannot be diverted to completely non-essential usage when the Union Territory in unable to provide even basic essentials to its people.
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court Tuesday observed that there was no “legal justification or Constitutional basis” for the Darbar Move
The court said that the practice resulted in wastage of tremendous amounts of time, effort, and energy. Further, the court also held the move as inefficient and unnecessary activity.
The court recommended that instead of the move, the resources and time can get utilized towards the welfare and development of the people. Also, the amount can address issues like food shortage, unemployment, and healthcare.
The court ordered the judgment to be served on the chief secretary of the union territory, directing him to place it before the authorities for examining the issues raised.
