The Jammu and Kashmir government Wednesday ordered all administrative secretaries and the UT level department heads to “ensure their availability at Jammu’s civil secretariat from 11 November”.

The order did not mention whether the shifting of officers from Srinagar during the winters was part of the ‘Durbar Move’ practice that was scrapped after abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 when J&K was downgraded as a Union Territory (UT), but it said it was for effective and efficient conduct of official business at the civil secretariat.

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The order issued by Sanjeev Verma, commissioner/secretary, general administration department, however said these officers will attend Srinagar’s secretariat as per functional requirement.

It has been ordered that the arrangements with regard to availability of staff of administrative departments of the civil secretariat shall be determined by the respective departments.

The estates department has been asked to provide accommodation to the officers and staff as per requirement.

Restoration of the Durbar Move was an electoral issue during the recent Assembly polls in which the National Conference-Congress alliance emerged victorious. The business community was also annoyed over discontinuation of the practice which they said has badly hit their trades.