No point in shifting seat of power every 6 months: J&K HC
Leaves it on constitutional authorities to take final call
JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Tuesday observed that there were no sufficient and logical reasons to justify shifting of seat of power, called Darbar Move, every six months between Jammu and Srinagar.
With these observations Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Rajnesh Oswal placed the matter before the secretary, Union ministry of home affairs, and chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir Union territory.
They left it on the constitutional authorities to take the final call. The “archaic and obsolete” practice started by the erstwhile Dogra rulers of the princely state around 1872 had been causing a whopping loss of Rs 200 crore to the state exchequer every year.
Taking suo-motu cognisance of a PIL, the division bench observed, “We have also noted above the limitations on the extent of our jurisdiction whereby we stand precluded from making a declaration on the permissibility or the continuation of the practice of the Darbar Move. We defer this task to the best wisdom of those on whom the Constitution of India bestows this solemn duty keeping in view the interest of the Union territory of
Jammu and Kashmir, the larger interest of its people and the mandate of the Constitution of India.”
The high court, after a marathon hearing, observed that “no reasons or grounds are forthcoming for enabling and supporting considerations of administrative efficiency, legal justification or constitutional basis for affecting the Darbar Move”.
“Regions of both Jammu and Srinagar equally require administration and governance round the year without interruption. It is unfair and opposed to public interest to deprive either region completely of access to government machinery for six months at a time,” the court said.
It also questioned the annual expenditure of Rs 200 crore to sustain and perpetuate an arrangement of biannual shifting of its capital in a ‘hopelessly fiscally deprived’ UT with severe underdevelopment.
‘DARBAR MOVE DOES NOT HOLD WEIGHT TODAY’
After citing facts and figures supported by logical conclusions, the division bench observed that the “practice of Darbar Move does not hold weight today. This justification of the Darbar Move has lost all relevance”.
“Jammu and Kashmir are already suffering from high fiscal deficit and the expenditure on the Darbar Move is an unwarranted burden on the depleted resources of the Union territory,” the bench stated.
It also observed that the practice results in “wastage of tremendous amount of time, efforts and energy on inefficient and unnecessary activity” and hence rationalisation of the Darbar Move was urgently required.
‘IT ALL STARTED AMID COVID LOCKDOWN’
Advocate Monika Kohli, amicus appointed in the case, said, “It all started amid Covid lockdown after a man from Kashmir whose son was stranded in Iran moved an application before the court for his evacuation and it was treated as suo-motu PIL”.
“While all this was on, the administration announced Darbar Move in April. Some of the lawyers from Kashmir expressed their concern that how Darbar Move can happen amid lockdown,” she said.
“Subsequently, it was brought into the notice of the HC, which wanted to know if it (Darbar Move) was legally required and mandatory or just a practice, and also sought reports from various departments on the money spent on this exercise,” she said.