A hundred year-long Dogra rule (1846 – 1947) over the State of Jammu and Kashmir is important not only as part of our history but more as a formative period for the administrative and legal system in the State along modern lines. It is during this period that the basics of three organs of the State were established and regulated in accordance with the system that had been brought to India by the British rulers. For the first time in its history, a region to the north of India came to be defined as the regular State of Jammu and Kashmir with marked out boundaries and coordinated administrative system. Therefore in the context of making of a state that played crucial role in the history of the sub-continent all records carry extraordinary significance, at least for the students of history and political science.
We may feel satisfied with the phenomenon of changing the political frame of the State from monarchy to populist rule in 1947 because, according to popular belief, peoples’ rule is a guarantee for uniform progress and development of a State. However, aversion of autocratic rule does not mean undermining constructive thinking at the level of ruling class to carry forward smooth functioning of the state. Past experience usually serves as roadmap for future planning. Rules and regulations made at one point of time are relevant to contemporary society but some of these have universality and permanence. It is not justifiable to brush these rules and regulations aside on the basis of a fragile argument their antiquity. Rules and regulations ultimately become traditions and tradition is inalienable part of history.
We would like to concretize the argument by citing a recent example. An applicant did not succeed in obtaining from the Government Departments a copy of the record of erstwhile Dogra period like State Council Resolutions, Ailans and Irshadats etc. He was told that the records were 120 years old and hence non-traceable. The petition was made under RTI Act. No responsible state department will try to defend its inability of providing the information on the basis of non-availability of records. Shift of the Government of the State from monarchical to populist rule does not make it a dustbin for the records and documents of the former period. 120 years of past history of the State are crucially important for any historian working on the history of Kashmir. It is a well known fact that real and undistorted history of the State of first two or three decades of post-1947 period is not available to research scholars because the official documents are either not preserved or not made accessible.
The importance of pre-1947 Council Resolutions of Dogra period like Ailans and Irshadats is that these are still applicable under Section 139 of J&K Transfer of Property Act. Under this Act, purchase of non-agricultural land in Jammu and Kashmir by a person who is not the permanent resident of J&K is prohibited. Pleading its case before the State Information Commission the appellant strongly contended that under J&K Transfer of Property Act, protection has been given to such Regulations, Hidayats, Resolutions, Ailans and Rules issued during the period of Dogra rulers. The Information Commission found that the appeal was based on incontrovertible facts and, therefore, asked the highest administrative authority of the State, meaning the Chief Secretary, to order the State Archives Department to provide copies of the document CD which was placed before the Information Commission.
The point is that administrative departments need to be briefed intensively on the importance of official record for the guidance of future generations. In this context the approach of the British should be emulated and followed. The result is that British libraries, repositories and archives are world famous for meticulous preservation of records that ultimately become source for history. This sense needs to be inculcated among our administrative echelons. In fact each concerned department/office should preserve a copy and forward the original to the Archives. We have new scientific methods of preservation of record called digitalization. It is easier to maintain digitalized record and recover it with ease. The Government would be well advised to shift to digitalization of all records and thus ensure that there will be no break in the continuity of historical material.
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