The first and foremost answer to this question is obviously Lieutenant Governor. He is head of the union territory Jammu and Kashmir as such he is the ruler. Constitutionally and legally this is true to the last word but people have alleged that no, this is not a correct answer. Even administratively also this is a fact that all the bureaucrats are subordinates to the Lieutenant Governor despite being the head of concerned department or departments (because many bureaucrats are heading more than one department). According to several people including political and social leaders presently the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir is completely being ruled by bureaucrats sitting on the top of the chair of each and every department. This may or may not be true but the recent incident of weekend lock down has fueled these allegations. On Friday the 14th of January 2022, suddenly people came to know that authorities have clamped weekend restrictions on the non-essential movement. As there had been no prior information and neither there had been any announcement on electronic or social media people were taken by surprise. The trading community was particularly not only surprised by this sudden announcement but also felt as if they are taken for granted. Most of the shopkeepers have displayed their goods. But for the hoteliers, dhabas and other eateries who till then have cooked various food items in sufficient quantity to be consumed in the morning as breakfast as well as for the lunch of the customers. This unannounced announcement put them in state of confusion as what to do with  the prepared food and why the government has not informed them last night at least if not a day before. Many people criticized the way these restrictions were imposed but the pro government electronic and social media immediately jumped to support this allegedly unjustified decision. Anyhow the shopkeepers were allowed to carry on their business till 4 p.m. and from next week this shall come into force from Friday evening 9 p.m. As this decision came under sharp criticism from various quarters and mostly the target was LG being head of the union territory so on Monday the well prepared and fed government supportive electronic and social media came in the defense of LG and put the blame on the head of the bureaucrats. Various technical reasons were put forward by those ‘self styled journalists’ in the defense of LG. But they perhaps were not aware of this type of justification that indirectly they are not only blaming the bureaucrats but also giving strength to the allegations that the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir is in fact being ruled by the bureaucrats.
