CM Omar Abdullah’s last-minute road trip and the return of twin capital system in Jammu and Kashmir – Explained

On November 11, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah undertook a ‘sudden and last minute’ road trip from Srinagar to Jammu, after his flight was cancelled due to poor visibility. In Jammu, Abdullah resumed office from the Civil Secretariat, as part of an annual practice of shifting the administrative base to the Union Territory's winter capital -- Jammu.

The deputy chief minister, cabinet ministers, chief secretary, administrative secretaries, and heads of departments also resumed their work from Jammu – 300 kms from Srinagar. Until last week the Jammu and Kashmir government worked out of the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar– the summer capital in Kashmir where the temperatures have dropped with season's first snowfall in upper reaches. Jammu, unlike Kashmir, doesn't face harsh winters.

This was Abdullah's first visit to the civil secretariat in Jammu as chief minister since assuming office on October 16. The UT government had instructed bureaucrats to be present at the civil secretariat in Jammu from November 11.

Only the administrative secretaries and the top department heads will shift to Jammu from Srinagar, under what is being reffered to as a ‘curtailed’ Darbar move. Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary said with the resumption of work from Jammu on Monday, half of the ‘Darbar Move’ was accomplished.

The ‘Darbar Move’ Tradition

‘Darbar Move' is a bi-annual practice in which the government functions for six months in the two capitals – Srinagar and Jammu. The exercise involves shifting 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, heaps of files and other logistics in hundreds of buses and trucks along the treacherous, and sometimes hazardous, Jammu-Srinagar highway.

The 149-year-old tradition was ended by Jammu and Kashmir's Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha- led administration in 2021. On June 20, 2021, the L-G administration completed the transition to e-office, thereby ending the practice of the biannual ‘Durbar Move’.

Save ₹200 Cr a year

“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 deprived sections,” the LG said then.

Since then, employees based in Jammu had been working there throughout the year. The same arrangement applied to those in Srinagar. Only administrative secretaries and UT-level head of departments continue to rotate between the two cities as needed to ensure seamless delivery of services.

Before the L-G's order, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court had in May 2020, observed that there was no “legal justification or Constitutional basis” for the ‘Darbar Move.’ A bench comprising chief justice Gita Mittal and Justice Rajnesh Oswal had said that the ‘Darbar Move’ resulted in ‘wastage of tremendous amount of time, efforts and energy on inefficient and unnecessary activity (say, packing of records).’

Since Maharaja Ranbir Singh in 1872

The National Conference (NC) had promised resumption of ‘Darbar Move’ in the run-up to assembly elections.

Instituted by Maharaja Ranbir Singh in 1872, the ‘Darbar Move’ aimed at facilitating governance in both Srinagar and Jammu during favourable weather during the summer and winter seasons in both cities.

The cancellation of the ‘Darbar Move’ practice annoyed a certain section of traders in Jammu, as it resulted in losses to them.