After putting an end to the 149-year-old practice of 'Darbar Move', the Jammu and Kashmir government on Thursday asked all administrative secretaries to direct all Head of Departments (HoDs) working under their control to immediately switch over to e-office mode of working.
It is also directed that no physical files or daks shall be entertained in the civil secretariat from March 7.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration has already completely transitioned to e-office to ensure the functioning of the Civil Secretariat and other 'move offices' from Srinagar and Jammu cities, simultaneously, throughout the year.
In September 2021, the government had issued a circular that asked all HoDs to switch over to the e-office mode of working with assistance and hand-holding from the Information Technology (IT) Department.
IT Department provided necessary assistance to all HoDs
According to a government order, all HoDs (move as well as non-move) were provided the necessary assistance by the Information Technology Department, by way of provisioning of the VPN connections, creation of domain IDs (@jk.gov.in), and training of local admins/master trainers, etc.
As most of the departments are still sending physical files despite repeated directions by the authorities, the government issued fresh directions in this regard.
"Notwithstanding the above said instructions, the extension of timelines, and the arrangements put in place, it has been observed that many HoD offices are still not fully operational on e-office mode and continue to send physical files/daks to their respective Administrative Secretaries, a matter which has been viewed seriously by the authorities," reads a fresh circular issued by the government.
"It is, accordingly, enjoined upon all Administrative Secretaries to direct HoDs working under their administrative control to immediately switch over to e-office mode of working", the order reads, adding, "Further, no physical files/daks shall be entertained in the Civil Secretariat, J&K, w.e.f. 7th March 2022".
3.5 lakhs physical files already digitalized
As reported earlier, in the process to move to an e-office, the J&K government has digitalized over two crore pages of over 3.5 lakh physical files of different government departments and uploaded them into the new e-office project implemented by the UT's civil secretariat.
This was done after the Jammu and Kashmir administration, passed an order to end the 'Darbar Move'- the practice of shifting the entire government machinery in the summer months (May-October) to Srinagar and in the winter months (November to April) back to Jammu.
The UT's Information Technology Department with NIC, e-Governance Agency, and State e-Mission Team (SeMT) have successfully implemented the e-office by scanning and digitizing 3.50 lakh files of the secretariat.
