‘File Raj’ concerns return as regime centralises DIC powers in IIOJK
Srinagar: Concerns over the return of ‘File Raj’ have surfaced in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir after the Industries and Commerce Department withdrew decision-making powers from District Industries Centres (DICs), centralising them at the ministerial level.
According to Kashmir Media Service, a communication from the office of the Deputy Chief Minister, who also holds the Industries and Commerce portfolio, directed that DICs must not grant permission for change in line of activity to warehousing, provisional or permanent, without prior consent of the minister. It further ordered that all permissions granted so far be kept in abeyance till further orders, and that any new requests require the minister’s approval, as desired by the Chief Minister.
The move comes despite warehousing being a legally permissible activity under the National Industrial Classification (NIC-2008), falling under Division 52 for warehousing and storage. It is neither restricted nor sensitive, but a service-oriented activity integral to supply chains.
Entrepreneurs and analysts said the decision marks administrative regression, reversing decentralised, time-bound processes into a centralised approval chain. They warned it would mean longer timelines, higher transaction costs, and increased dependency for MSMEs, contradicting the “minimum government, maximum governance” pledge. The development has unsettled entrepreneurs who had hoped for a more responsive regime with the return of an elected government after years of bureaucratic rigidity.
Observers said the measure raises a fundamental question: whether governance is enabling enterprise or reverting to controlling it, risking the fragile confidence that had begun to return.
