New Delhi: In a significant, the Central government has notified the merger of IAS, IPS, and IFoS officers of Jammu and Kashmir cadre with that AGMUT -- Arunachal, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories. As per the notification said the officers borne or allocated to AGMUT cadre shall function in accordance with the rules framed by the Central government.

According to a notification, which was signed by President Ram Nath Kovind and issued by the Ministry of Law and Justice on Thursday, the officers of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir cadre can be posted to Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and any Union Territory.

Necessary modifications may be made in the corresponding cadre allocation rules by the Central government.

The move comes over a year after the Centre abrogated Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated the state into Union Territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh – in August 2019.

The new Union Territory of Ladakh consists of two districts of Kargil and Leh. The rest of the former State of Jammu and Kashmir is in the new Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

In 1947, the former State of Jammu and Kashmir had the following 14 districts - Kathua, Jammu, Udhampur, Reasi, Anantnag, Baramulla, Poonch, Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Leh and Ladakh, Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas and Tribal Territory.

By 2019, the state government of former Jammu and Kashmir had reorganized the areas of these 14 districts into 28 districts. The names of the new districts are Kupwara, Bandipur, Ganderbal, Srinagar, Budgam, Pulwama, Shupian, Kulgam, Rajouri, Ramban, Doda, Kishtivar, Samba and Kargil.

Out of these, Kargil district was carved out from the area of Leh and Ladakh district. The Leh district of the new Union Territory of Ladakh has been defined in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Removal of Difficulties) Second Order, 2019, issued by the President of India, to include the areas of the districts of Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas and Tribal Territory of 1947, in addition to the remaining areas of Leh and Ladakh districts of 1947, after carving out the Kargil district. /BI/