The Public Records Act, 1993 and the Public Records Rules, 1997

1. Object and scope

The Public Records Act, 1993 (69 of 1993) received assent on 21 December 1993 and came into force on 1 March 1995. Its long title: an Act to regulate the management, administration and preservation of public records of the Central Government, Union territory Administrations, public sector undertakings, statutory bodies and corporations, and commissions and committees constituted by the Central Government or a Union territory Administration. Its Statement of Objects and Reasons explains that these matters were governed only by executive instructions, which could be changed without notice, and that legal cover was needed so that “our public records are not only authentic but also throw light on many grey areas of our history”. It does not apply to State Government records, which are governed by State laws or instructions.

2. Definitions: section 2

• Public records, section 2(e): any document, manuscript and file; microfilm, microfiche and facsimile copies; reproductions of images on microfilm; and any other material produced by a computer or other device, of any records creating agency. (The RTI Act’s definition of “record” in section 2(i) is copied from this.)
• Records creating agency, section 2(f): any ministry, department or office of the Central Government; the offices of statutory bodies or corporations wholly or substantially controlled or financed by it, and of its commissions and committees; and the corresponding bodies of a Union territory Administration.
• Director General, section 2(b): the Director General of Archives (head of the National Archives of India).
• Records officer, section 2(g): the officer nominated under section 5(1).

3. Powers of the Central Government: sections 3 and 4

Section 3(1) gives the Central Government power to coordinate, regulate and supervise the administration, management, preservation, selection, disposal and retirement of public records. Under section 3(2) it may authorise the Director General (or the head of a Union territory’s Archives) to carry out eighteen listed functions, among them accepting permanent records for deposit, setting records management standards, inspection, regulating access and destroying records.

Section 4: no person may take public records out of India without the prior approval of the Central Government, except for an official purpose.

4. The records officer: sections 5 to 7

Every records creating agency must nominate one of its officers as records officer, section 5(1), and may set up record rooms, each under a records officer, section 5(2). Rule 3 of the 1997 Rules requires the nomination by office order of an officer not below the rank of Section Officer, with a copy to the Director General.

His responsibilities, section 6(1), are:

• (a) proper arrangement, maintenance and preservation of records in his charge;
• (b) periodical review and weeding out of records of ephemeral value;
• (c) appraisal of records more than twenty-five years old in consultation with the National Archives, to retain those of permanent value;
• (d) destruction of records in the prescribed manner;
• (e) compiling a schedule of retention in consultation with the National Archives;
• (f) periodical review for downgrading of classified records;
• (g) adopting the National Archives’ standards and procedures for records management and security;
• (h) compiling annual indices; (i) compiling an organisational history and annual supplement; (j) assisting the National Archives; (k) submitting an annual report to the Director General; and (l) transferring records of defunct bodies to the Archives.

He acts under the direction of the Director General, section 6(2). Under section 7, if records in his charge are removed, destroyed, defaced or altered without authority, he must forthwith take action for their recovery or restoration, report in writing to the Director General without delay, and may seek the assistance of any Government officer, who must give it.

5. Destruction and penalty: sections 8 and 9

Section 8(1): no public record may be destroyed or disposed of except in the prescribed manner. Section 8(2): no record created before 1892 may be destroyed unless the Director General considers it so defaced that it cannot be put to any archival use. Section 9: contravention of section 4 or section 8 is punishable with imprisonment up to five years, or fine up to ten thousand rupees, or both.

6. Classified and private records; access: sections 10 to 12

• Records bearing a security classification are not transferred to the National Archives, section 10; they must first be downgraded.
• The National Archives may accept records of historical or national importance from private sources by gift, purchase or otherwise, and make them available to bona fide research scholars, section 11.
• Access, section 12(1): unclassified public records more than thirty years old that have been transferred to the National Archives may be made available to any bona fide research scholar, subject to prescribed exceptions. The thirty years run from the year the record was opened. Section 12(2): a records creating agency may grant any person access to records in its custody in the prescribed manner.

Compare the RTI Act. Section 12 of the Public Records Act is permissive and limited to research scholars; the RTI Act gives every citizen an enforceable right, and its section 8(3) requires disclosure of most information about events more than twenty years old. Since section 22 gives the RTI Act overriding effect, a citizen can now ask for records that the 1993 Act would open only to scholars after thirty years.

7. The Archival Advisory Board: sections 13 and 14

The Central Government may constitute the Board by notification, section 13(1). Its composition, section 13(2):

• the Secretary, Ministry of Culture — Chairman, ex officio;
• one officer not below Joint Secretary each from the Cabinet Secretariat and the Ministries of Home Affairs, Defence, External Affairs, Finance, and Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions — members, ex officio;
• two representatives not below Joint Secretary from Union territory Administrations, nominated by the Central Government;
• three persons nominated for up to three years: one archivist and two professors from post-graduate departments of history;
• the Director General — Member-Secretary, ex officio.

Its functions, section 14: to advise the Central Government and Union territory Administrations on the administration, management, conservation and use of public records; to lay down guidelines for training of archivists; to give directions for acquisition of records from private custody; and other prescribed matters. Under rule 12 of the 1997 Rules, nominated members draw travelling and daily allowance at the rates for Group ‘A’ officers of the Central Government.

8. The Public Records Rules, 1997

Made by the Department of Culture under section 17 (G.S.R. 43, 9 January 1997). The main rules:

• Rule 3: nomination of a records officer not below Section Officer.
• Rule 4: the records officer keeps a standing guard file of the Director General’s directions.
• Rule 5: the Director General accepts records of permanent nature retained by the agency for twenty-five years or more; the records officer intimates each year before 31 January (Form 1) the records due for appraisal, and after appraisal sends them with a transfer list in triplicate (Form 2). He may retain a file beyond twenty-five years for recorded reasons.
• Rule 6: withdrawal of deposited records for official purposes by requisition slip (Form 3), to be returned within six months.
• Rule 7: an officer not below Under Secretary evaluates classified records for downgrading every fifth year, with half-yearly statements (Form 4).
• Rule 8: annual report by the records officer (Form 5) every March.
• Rule 9: no record is destroyed without being recorded and reviewed; none more than twenty-five years old is destroyed unless appraised; lists of destroyed records are kept permanently (Form 6); destruction is by burning or shredding in the records officer’s presence.
• Rules 10 and 11: access to private and public records for bona fide research on application (Form 8), which the Director General may refuse in the public interest with recorded reasons; foreign nationals need letters of introduction; records concerning border areas and neighbouring countries are opened with regard to security; and readers must not mark, damage or remove records.

How this is examined

“Explain the scope and objective of the Public Records Act, 1993; state the powers and responsibilities of the records officer” (November 2021), “Examine the salient features of the Public Records Act, 1993 and its rules” (April 2021), and “Explain the constitution and functions of the Archival Advisory Board” (December 2020), with the Board also as a short note. Use the numbered sections above; for the records officer, list all twelve duties in section 6(1) and add section 7 and rule 3.