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| Darbar rolls into Jammu | | | |  Jammu, Nov 1:
The first batch of employees, along with the main official convoy carrying important records from the Civil Secretariat, Srinagar, and other Move offices, reached the winter capital on Saturday, signalling the arrival of ‘Darbar’ in Jammu for the next six months.
Meanwhile, the offices observing six days a week also closed in Srinagar on Saturday, November 1, 2025, after office hours.
The transportation of the rest of the Move employees as part of the main official convoy, comprising special buses arranged by the Jammu and Kashmir Road Transport Corporation (JKRTC), will also continue on Sunday, November 2, 2025.
All the offices, except the subordinate offices of the Home Department, under the direct control of the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, will reopen at Jammu on November 3, 2025, thus marking the resumption of the bi-annual practice of ‘Darbar Move’, scrapped since 2021.
Interestingly, as per the past practice, the Estates Department, in pursuance of the directions of the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah during the meeting on October 24, 2025, has arranged dinner for Move employees in Jammu, on the eve of the opening of Darbar on November 2, 2025.
For this purpose, the department has designated specific places. These places have been identified or selected, strictly in accordance with the last Darbar Move. The menu of the dinner would also remain the same as it was served during the last Darbar Move.
DARBAR BRINGS CHEERS IN JAMMU
The arrival of ‘Darbar’ has brought cheers in old Jammu city markets, which anticipate an upswing in the economy, facing a widespread downturn.
Those running hotels, lodges, and guest houses are, in particular, enthused as after four years they will remain abuzz with the activities of official customers, at least for the next six months. The J&K Estates Department has made elaborate arrangements to accommodate the Move employees. Besides the government accommodation, including quarters in Ahata Amar Singh in Panjtirthi, B C Road, Muthi, Sarwal, and other places, the department has hired several hotels, guest houses, and lodges in old Jammu city and its outskirts for the Move employees.
Even within the Jammu municipal limits, the department has hired rooms in around 50 hotels, lodges, and guest houses. The allotment of rooms in different hotels, lodges, and guesthouses, in favour of officers and officials, has been made with effect from November 1, 2025, to April 30, 2026, on the payment of fees or charges as prescribed under norms.
However, the allotment is subject to certain terms and conditions. The employees will have to give an undertaking that he or she or their spouse does not own a house within the municipal limits of Jammu city; he or she has not been provided any kind of accommodation by the controlling department or any other agency.
Besides, the allottees have been asked to take possession of their respective allotted accommodation up to November 15, 2025, from the office of the Deputy Director Estates, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu, failing which their accommodation will be deemed to have been cancelled.
As per the terms and conditions, the payment will be made to the J&K Tourist Development Corporation (JKTDC) under Security Related expenditure (SRE), as per the actual utilization and not as per the number of rooms hired, strictly in line with the rates approved by the Finance Department for JKTDC and private hotels, which will be verified and certified by the committee already in place at the Directorate Level.
RETENTION OF FEW EMPLOYEES IN SRINAGAR
Around 200 officers and officials of different departments, however, as per a ‘retention order’ of the General Administration Department, will continue to remain stationed at the Civil Secretariat, Srinagar, during the entire tenure of the Darbar Move to Jammu.
This (retention) arrangement, according to GAD Commissioner Secretary M Raju, will be temporary till the Darbar Move of offices from Jammu to Srinagar.
All other rooms in the Civil Secretariat, Srinagar, except the units or rooms where these officers or officials will operate, will be properly locked and sealed by the Senior Superintendent of Police (Security), Civil Secretariat, Srinagar, after the Annual Darbar Move, 2025-26.
“The rooms allotted to the Ministers and Administrative Secretaries will remain open only during the days they visit Civil Secretariat, Srinagar,” GAD Commissioner Secretary has specified. Meanwhile, in a related development related to security measures ahead of the Darbar Move, the District Magistrate Jammu Rakesh Minhas has issued an order whereby all the landlords, property owners, contractors, and business establishments have been asked to mandatorily disclose the details of their tenants, domestic help, workers, and employees to the local police within seven days. As per the order, those who have already rented out their premises or engaged workers prior to the order’s issuance will have to furnish details by November 6, 2025.
Any violation would attract legal action under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), DM said.
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