Deleted in 2021 by LG admin, CM Omar Abdullah restores Jammu and Kashmir 'Darbar Move' from October 31

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Thursday issued orders for the closure of the ‘Darbar Move’ offices in the summer capital Srinagar on October 31, hours after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced the restoration of the tradition. The administration led by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha scrapped the Darbar Move tradition in 2021 to save costs and promote digitization. “Today I personally signed the official file, and I hope the order will be issued soon. We are restoring the old tradition of the Darbar Move,” Abdullah told reporters Thursday afternoon. Why was the Darbar Move restored? “We have promised people that we will restore the Darbar Move. The Cabinet has taken a decision on its restoration and sent it to the Lieutenant Governor. The LG has signed the file and sent it back,” he said earlier in the day. On Thursday evening, Commissioner Secretary of the General Administration Department, M Raju, issued the formal order for the restoration of the Darbar Move. “The offices, in this order, will shift ‘full’ and ‘in camp’ respectively to Jammu from the winter season 2025–2026. The offices observing a five-day week will close after office hours at Srinagar on October 31, and the offices observing a six-day week will close after office hours on November 1,” the order said The offices will shift only in the 3 camp. or 10 officials, whichever is the minimum, or as otherwise specifically indicated. While 39 offices, departments and organizations, including the chief minister’s secretariat, will move in full strength, 47 others will move in the camp, it said. What is Darbar Move? ‘Darbar Move’ is a biennial practice in which the government operates in the two capitals – Srinagar and Jammu – for six months. The exercise involves moving the government from Srinagar to Jammu during the winter months – October to May – and back to Srinagar in the summer, along with thousands of officials, workers, piles of files and other logistics in hundreds of buses and trucks along the treacherous, and sometimes dangerous, Jammu-Srinagar highway. The ‘Darbar Move’ traces its origins to 1872 under Maharaja Ranbir Singh, the Dogra ruler who began shifting the royal court between Srinagar and Jammu to escape the extreme weather in both regions. Under this system, government offices functioned from Srinagar during the summer months and shifted to Jammu in the winter. Jammu, unlike Kashmir, does not face harsh winters. The exercise involves moving nearly 10,000 employees, along with their records, computers and furniture, with dozens of trucks that transport files and equipment across the Jammu-Srinagar highway twice a year. Save ₹200 Cr per year “Why was the Darbar Move stopped? It was a long tradition. Those who accused us of not understanding the history of Jammu and Kashmir before 1947, and of not respecting the great personalities of the region – let it be known that no one has damaged their legacy more than the BJP,” Abullah said. The 149-year-old tradition was ended by Jammu and Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinhaled administration in 2021. On 20 June 2021, the LG administration completed the transition to e-office, thereby ending the practice of the biennial ‘Darbar Move’. “Now both the Jammu and Srinagar secretariats can function normally for 12 months. This will save the government ₹200 crore per year, which will be used for the welfare of the needy sections,” the LG said then. The cancellation of the ‘Darbar Move’ practice has irked a certain section of traders in Jammu as it has led to losses for them. Opposition parties and traders have been strongly advocating for the restoration of the Darbar Move for years. Omar’s ‘sudden and last minute’ road trip in 2024 The National Conference (NC) has promised the resumption of ‘Darbar Move’ in the run-up to the assembly elections. Last year, on November 11, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah took a ‘sudden and last minute’ road trip from Srinagar to Jammu, after his flight was canceled due to poor visibility. In Jammu, Abdullah resumed his post of the Civil Secretariat, as part of the symbolic resumption of the annual practice of shifting the administrative base to the Union Territory’s winter capital – Jammu. This was Abdullah’s first visit to the civil secretariat in Jammu as the chief minister since assuming office on October 16, 2024. Today I personally signed the official file, and I hope that the order will be issued soon. We are restoring the old tradition of the Darbar Move. The Deputy Chief Minister, Cabinet Ministers, Chief Secretary, Administrative Secretaries and Heads of Departments have also resumed work from Jammu, 300 km from Srinagar. (With agency input)