With only a day left in the dissolution of the state of Jammuand Kashmir into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh on October 31,preparations are underway for the swearing-in of the two newly-appointedLieutenant Governors in Srinagar and Leh.

Gita Mittal, Chief Justice of the J&K High Court, willfirst administer the oath to Radha Krishna Mathur as the first lieutenantgovernor of Ladakh Union Territory at 7:15 am. Later, she will fly to Srinagarto administer the oath to Girish Chandra Murmu, who will be Jammu and Kashmir'sfirst lieutenant governor at 12:45 pm.Mittal will leave for Leh on Wednesdayitself. Sources said that a plane will be kept ready so that she can administeran oath on time at both locations, almost back to back. The ceremony will,however, be a somber affair sans any political leader. Sources said that noleader from state or Centre is expected to be part of the ceremony.

The oath-taking ceremony will be held in a function inSrinagar, the summer capital, despite the fact that by that time theswearing-in ceremony, the Jammu and Kashmir darbar would be moved to wintercapital Jammu. Sources told India Today TV that the decision to administer theoath in Srinagar is 'symbolic' and is to highlight Kashmir’s integration withthe rest of India.Interestingly, both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and HomeMinister Amit Shah have not visited Kashmir Valley since the revocation ofArticle 370.

On October 31, PM Modi would be at the Statue of Unity atKevadia in Gujarat to mark the occasion and Home Minister Amit Shah would flagoff a Run for Unity in Delhi on the same day.

Sources said Run for Unity is being planned in Leh, Srinagarand Jammu with Unity March being carried out in all three locations. Sourcessaid that security will be extremely tight. While the venue in Srinagar is notfixed, a top officer said a unity march will be flagged off at the scenic DalLake. On previous occasions also Jammu and Kashmir Police and CAPF have carriedout Run for Unity to commemorate the birth anniversary of Sardar VallabhbhaiPatel.At age 73, Satyapal Malik, the incumbent Governor of Jammu and Kashmirhad barely completed a year in August 2018 but has been moved to Goa for therest of the tenure. While GC Murmu is 59 is one of the youngest governors inthe country. An expenditure secretary and a close aide of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi, he has no previous experience of Jammu and Kashmir.Sources saidthat with the entry of Murmu, a 1985 batch IPS officer, the apple cart has beendisturbed as all advisors in Jammu and Kashmir are senior to him. The youngestin the lot are BVR Subrahmanyam, IAS, 1986 batch officer and Dilbagh Singh, a1987 batch officer.

With the current governor going, the old arrangement will goand a new set of advisors will make an entry.

Sources said that barring Farooq Khan, who is a member ofthe Bharatiya Janata Party, formerly the administrator of Lakshwadeep, the restof the four advisors are set to go. Hence terms of K Vijay Kumar, KhursheedGanai, K Sikandan and KK Sharma will come to an end. K Vijay Kumar’s name wasincidentally doing the rounds for being the post of governor. Sources said thisprevious team is mentally prepared to go.According to the J&KRe-organisation Act 2019 says, The Lt Governor will decide about the provisionalstrength, composition and allocation of officers once the two new UTs areformed and notified.

As Jammu and Kashmir is being bifurcated on Thursday, IAS,IPS and other central service officers of J-K cadre will continue to serve inthe two succeeding Union Territories (UTs) while new recruits of these serviceswill be allocated in the AGMUT cadre.The act further says the state governmentemployees will be able to seek option to serve in either of the two UTs ofJammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and this transfer will be determined by the LtGovernor.

The Act says the Central government shall have the power toreview any of its orders issued under this section.

The UTs of J&K and Ladakh will come into existence asother newly carved out states have come up in the past. The most recent exampleis Telangana, the act was passed in March 2014 and the appointed day was June2, 2014. It will not be a grandiose affair, instead, it will be a low-keyaffair, despite being a historic day in the country.