The Jammu and Kashmir government has announced the calendar for the annual shifting of the Union Territory's capital, formally restoring the Darbar Move — the centuries-old practice under which the seat of government moves between Srinagar in summer and Jammu in winter.

According to the announced calendar, government offices in the summer capital Srinagar will begin closing on October 30 and 31, and will reopen in the winter capital Jammu on November 2. The move involves the civil secretariat and dozens of departments, thousands of employees, and truckloads of official records travelling the highway between the two cities.

A practice older than the republic

The Darbar Move is usually traced to 1872, when Maharaja Ranbir Singh formalised the seasonal shift of the Dogra court — escaping Srinagar's winter chill and Jammu's summer heat. It survived the end of princely rule, reorganisation and decades of political change, becoming as much an economic lifeline for traders and transporters in both cities as an administrative ritual.

In 2021, the Lieutenant Governor's administration ended the practice, citing savings of around ₹200 crore a year and a shift to electronic offices. The decision was welcomed by some as overdue reform and criticised by others as an erasure of J&K's distinctive traditions — and a blow to Jammu's businesses, which depend on the winter influx of government employees.

Why it is back

The elected government had promised to restore the Move, arguing that the practice binds the two regions of the Union Territory together and sustains livelihoods on both sides of the Banihal tunnel. Business associations in Jammu, which had campaigned for years for its return, have welcomed the calendar.

Critics continue to question the cost and disruption of physically moving a government in the digital age. The administration's answer, for now, is a hybrid: files move electronically, but the Darbar — and the capital — moves as it has for more than 150 years.