Public Records Act, 1993
No: 69 Dated: Dec, 21 1993
Public Records Act, 1993
(Act No. 69 of 1993)
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, commissions and committees constituted by the Central Government or a Union territory Administration and matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Be it enacted by Parliament in the Forty-fourth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-
1. Short title and commencement.—(1) This Act may be called the Public Records Act, 1993.
(2) It shall come into force on such date1 as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.
2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(a) “Board” means the Archival Advisory Board constituted under sub-section (1) of section 13;
(b) “Director General” means the Director General of Archives appointed by the Central Government and includes any officer authorised by that Government to perform the duties of the Director General;
(c) “head of the Archives” means a person holding the charge of the Archives of the Union territory Administration;
(d) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
(e) “public records” includes—
(i) any document, manuscript and file;
(ii) any microfilm, microfiche and facsimile copy of a document;
(iii) any reproduction of image or images embodied in such microfilm (whether enlarged or not); and
(iv) any other material produced by a computer or by any other device, of any records creating agency;
(f) records creating agency includes,—
(i) in relation to the Central Government, any ministry, department or office of that Government;
(ii) in relation to any statutory body or corporation wholly or substantially controlled or financed by the Central Government or commission or any committee constituted by that Government, the offices of the said body, corporation, commission or committee;
(iii) in relation to a Union territory Administration, any department or office of that Administration;
(iv) in relation to any statutory body or corporation wholly or substantially controlled or financed by Union territory Administration or commission or any committee constituted by that Administration, the offices of the said body, corporation, commission or committee;
(g) “records officer” means the officer nominated by the records creating agency under sub-section (1) of section 5.
3. Power of the Central Government to coordinate, regulate and supervise operations connected with administration, management, etc., of public records.—(1) The Central Government shall have the power to coordinate, regulate and supervise the operations connected with the administration, management, preservation, selection, disposal and retirement of public records under this Act.
(2) The Central Government in relation to the public records of the records creating agencies specified in sub-clauses (i) and (ii) of clause (f) of section 2 and the Union territory Administration in relation to the public records of the records creating agencies specified in sub-clauses (iii) and (iv) of the said clause, may, by order, authorise the Director General or the head of the Archives, as the case may be, subject to such conditions as may be specified in the order, to carry out all or any of the following functions, namely:—
(a) supervision, management and control of the Archives.
(b) acceptance for deposit of public records of permanent nature after such period as may be prescribed;
(c) custody, use and withdrawal of public records;
(d) arrangement, preservation and exhibition of public records;
(e) preparation of inventories, indices, catalogues and other reference media of public records;
(f) analysing, developing, promoting and coordinating the standards, procedures and the techniques for improvement of the records management system;
(g) ensuring the maintenance, arrangement and security of public records in the Archives and in the offices of the records creating agency;
(h) promoting utilisation of available space and maintenance of equipments for preserving public records;
(i) tendering advice to records creating agencies on the compilation, classification and disposal of records and application of standards, procedures and techniques of records management;
(j) survey and inspection of public records;
(k) organising training programmes in various disciplines of Archives administration and records management;
(l) accepting records from any private source;
(m) regulating access to public records;
(n) receiving records from defunct bodies and making arrangement for securing public records in the event of national emergency;
(o) receiving reports on records management and disposal practices from the records officer;
(p) providing authenticated copies of, or extracts from, public records;
(q) destroying or disposal of public records;
(r) obtaining on lease or purchasing or accepting as gift any document of historical or national importance.