SRINAGAR: In the wake of the constitutional reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019, a substantial stock of printed legal and administrative material has been declared obsolete and is now being processed for auction, the government informed the Assembly.
The development follows the repeal of Article 370 and the conversion of the erstwhile State into a Union Territory, which led to sweeping legal and administrative changes. Several statutes were repealed, modified, or replaced, rendering a range of official publications outdated.
In a written reply placed before the House, the government detailed the quantum of obsolete printed material identified over the past five years. The items include 16 copies of the Jail Manual, 47 copies of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir (Volume D), 159 copies of the Law Supplement 2010, and 784 copies of the Law Supplement 2011.
Additionally, 32 copies of the old version of the Budget Manual have been declared obsolete. A significant number of Law Volumes (6th Edition, Volumes I to X) have also been listed, with 1,689 copies each reported as outdated.
Officials indicated that many of these publications became redundant following the application of central laws to the Union Territory and the repeal or modification of earlier state-specific legislation. The discontinuation of the separate Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, in particular, rendered related volumes obsolete.
The government stated that an Auction Committee has been constituted to dispose of the outdated records, including damaged and superseded books, in accordance with prescribed rules and procedures. The process, it said, is being undertaken after due verification and compliance with financial and administrative norms governing disposal of government property.
The move is part of a broader administrative transition triggered by the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which replaced the state’s distinct legal framework with a system aligned to central statutes. As departments update their reference materials to reflect current laws and regulations, legacy publications are being systematically weeded out.
While the auction is a routine administrative exercise, it symbolically marks the end of an era in the region’s legislative history, as printed records tied to the former state’s constitutional and legal identity are formally retired from official use.
