Way back in 2007, the State Government took a far-reaching decision of reorganization of districts in the State with view to maximize efficient and speedy administration. It was a priority in view of considerably increased administrative input and growing economic and social activity among the burgeoning population of the State. Consequently, after serious and prolonged discussions at various levels of administration and due consideration by the Cabinet, eight more districts, with four in each of the two provinces of Jammu and Kashmir were created. The Government made the formal announcement and even the territorial distribution of the boundaries of new districts came into being. People affected by this decision were happy that they would have easy access to the higher echelons of administration and their problems would be resolved without many hassles.
However, things were not that easy. The operative part of creating new districts and its implementation on ground was still to come. Sadly, it has not come yet, and what actually has shaped is dual administrative control of various areas in the newly constituted districts. In some areas, there is virtual diarchy and things do not move as desired.
The point is that with creation of new districts, jurisdiction of Administrative Departments had to be defined, and set forth in the scheme of things. One important issue is that in recreating the new district boundaries some villages are now placed in very inconvenient situation and the people there have to travel long distances to reach the district level authorities. Jurisdiction of Administrative Departments is not clear and more often than not confusion prevails among one or more departments about administrative matters. In particular, Education, Health, R&B and PHE need clear instruction about the new areas that fall in their operative jurisdiction. Some observers think that the higher echelons of some Administrative Departments, too, have contributed to this confusion. That is why, on knowing the ground situation the Chief Minister ordered constituting of two committees each headed by the Divisional Commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir to submit a comprehensive report on distribution of powers and administrative jurisdiction. However, these committees have not submitted report till date.
The point is that the people in general and those of the new districts in particular hailed the creation of new districts. It was a long awaited decision. The real purpose of this decision is to give the people efficient and speedy administration, reduce their problems of traveling long distances to get their issues resolved, make it more practical to implement developmental plans and projects, and receive useful and instructive feedback from administrative branches operating in the newly created districts. The seamy side of the story is that despite lapse of eight years when these districts were created, administration is still lacking impact, jurisdiction of administrative departments remains undefined, and the complaints of people who have been physically sidelined in the course of creation of new districts remain unresolved. Eight years is a long time and dragging the issue for all these years has no justification.
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