End of 149-year-old tradition in Jammu and Kashmir: 10,000 employees will not have to change homes every 6 months, 200 crores will be saved every year by the end of Durbar Move.

The photo is of the Civil Secretariat located in Sri Nagar. file

The 149-year-old ‘Darbar Move’ tradition has been abolished in Jammu and Kashmir. Due to this, the state government will get a benefit of Rs 200 crore every year. After ending the tradition, 10 thousand employees will have to vacate any one house in Jammu or Kashmir given by the government. These employees will now stay at one place and do many things online.

What is Durbar Move?
The capital of Jammu and Kashmir has been changing every 6 months. The government runs from Srinagar in summer and Jammu in winter. This exchange of capital is called ‘Durbar Move’. Under the Darbar Move, the state employees were also moved from here to there every 6 months. Files and other items were also carried here and there after being filled in trucks. Money was spent in this, as well as there was wear and tear of goods. According to state officials, Rs 200 crore was spent every year in this process. Now the employees will remain at their place of posting and will do the necessary work online. There are about 10,000 employees in the civil secretariats with their headquarters in Jammu and Srinagar.

How will the loss of tradition affect employees?
1. The Commissioner Secretary, Estates Department, M Raju said that the government house in any one place will have to be vacated within 21 days.
2. There are 4,678 units of Estate Department in the Union Territory of J&K. Of these, 3,200 are in Jammu and 1,478 in Kashmir.
3. The money that will be left after ending the Durbar tradition will be spent for the deprived classes.

When was the court system implemented?
The Darbar system was started by Maharaja Gulab Singh in 1872. The tradition was continued by the political class of Jammu and Kashmir from 1947 onwards. He believed that this practice acts as a bridge for dialogue between different language and cultural areas of Kashmir and Jammu. Former Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam had said on March 31 that the government has taken concrete steps to switch to paperless offices by introducing e-offices across departments.

In 2020, the then Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Rajneesh Oswal of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court suggested discontinuing the tradition, saying it was a burden on the exchequer. However, the people of Jammu and Kashmir never opposed this tradition. This led to economic reforms in both the capitals.

Lt Governor launches e-office
Before concluding the Durbar move, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha first shifted his office completely to e-office. He announced this on June 20. Only after this the employees were asked to vacate the house. The administration has uploaded the official records on the e-office.