Finally, a formal order, that cleared the mist over the issue of Darbar Move, the 149-year-old the biannual practice of shifting capitals between Srinagar and Jammu has been issued directing the employees to vacate their accommodation allotted to and retained by them at Jammu and Srinagar within 21 days. The order is a prelude to hitting a final nail in the head of an age-old tradition of Darbar Move that involves transporting thousands of Officers & employees and tens of thousands of official files physically in vehicles on the treacherous Jammu-Srinagar highway (with exceptions of a few privileged by Air in Executive Class) seemingly came to an end on Wednesday. Movement at such an enormous scale just recalls the ‘Royal Carvan' moving lock, stock and barrel of the feudal era in India.
The order enclosed two lists of 2159 accommodations allotted to the Darbar Move employees – 1696 at Jammu allotted and retained by the employees from Kashmir and 493 dwelling units at Srinagar allotted and retained by the employees from Jammu. Employees from Jammu had been allotted residential accommodation in Srinagar and those from Srinagar in Jammu.
In the meanwhile, Darbar Move Employees Federation (DMEF), for whom the directions are most disturbing and indigestible, in the meanwhile, has urged the Chief Secretary to extend vacation time from 21 days to 3 months in view of hardships and the forthcoming Eid festival. The DMEF also demanded Packing and Travel allowances to the employee for vacating the accommodations.
This unique tradition Darbar Move prevalent in Jammu Kashmir had some historical and political reasons in the back of it but a heated debate on the continuity of the practice has been going on for two decades or more. The issue spurted into controversies in past whenever some odd departments were attempted retention at Srinagar or shifted partially.
The lackadaisical work culture deep-rooted within the political and administrative machinery in J&K has been notorious for corruption, manipulations, manoeuvring, nepotism, red-tape and whatnot but has public service as its least priority. From minister to minion, have evolved them to a highly politicised lot that remained worried about pay-bands, perks, privileges and luxuries of someone being an authority at whatever level. They always wanted and enjoyed the luxuries of the best of both worlds from cooler to warmer ambiences.
In pros and cons, there might be some plausible reasons when the practice of shuttling the seat of power between two capitals started and continued during Maharajas' time, however, all the subsequent popular government too carried the baggage for so long, maybe, after realising some benefits of this exercise in terms of historical and political compulsions, inter-region interactions, economic vibrancy, accessibility of top administration at both the capital with the weather change, etc.
The J&K High Court that dealt with the issue in-depth in 2020 has already passed its adverse observation on the tradition of Darbar Move saying “it burdens the exchequer” and suggested discontinuation of the practice to the Union Home Ministry to take appropriate action in the matter.
The world has changed so is the working in all parts of the world. The government had taken concrete steps to switch over to paperless offices by rolling out e-office in the government departments.
The administration has uploaded official records to the e-office. This switch to the online mode would avoid wear and tear as well as loss of official record during the bi-annual transit, besides saving the associated transportation and other huge costs.
The Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinah had on June 20 announced that the Jammu and Kashmir administration has completely transitioned to e-office, thereby ending the practice of the biannual ‘darbar move'. According to him, now both the Jammu and Srinagar secretariats can function normally for 12 months. This will save the government Rs 200 crore per year, which will be used for the welfare of the deprived sections.
