Central

Section 3 of The Destruction of Records Act, 1917

13. Power to certain authorities to make rules for disposal of documents.--(1) The authorities hereinafter specified may, from time to time, make rules for the disposal, by destruction or otherwise, of such documents as ar e, in the opinion of the authority making the rules, not of sufficient public value to justify their preservation .

(2)The authorities shall be--
1. (a)in the case of documents in the possession or custody of a High Court or of the Courts of civil or criminal jurisdiction subordinate thereto,--the High Court;
2. (b)in the case of documents in the possession or custody of Revenue Courts and officers,--the Chief Controlling Revenue-authority5 ; and
3. (c)in the case of documents in the possession or custo dy of any other public officer,-- 6[(i) if the documents relate to purposes of a State, the State Government or any officer specially authorized in that behalf by tha t Government;
  1. (ii)in any other case, the Central Government or an officer specially authorized in that behalf by that Government.] 7[(3) Rules made under this section by any High Court or by a Chief Controlling Revenue-authority or by an officer specially authorized in that behalf by any State Government shall be subject to the previous approval of the State Government; and rules made by an officer specially authorized in that behalf by the Central Government shall be subject to the previous approval of the Central Government.]

Summary

This section gives specific authorities the power to make rules to destroy or dispose of documents.
Rules can only be made for documents that are not of sufficient public value to keep.
High Courts make rules for their own documents and lower civil or criminal courts.
The Chief Controlling Revenue-authority makes rules for Revenue Courts and officers.
State Governments or authorized officers make rules for state-related public documents, while the Central Government or authorized officers handle other cases.
Most of these rules require previous approval from the respective State or Central Government before they become valid.

Practical examples

1Justice Malhotra of the High Court wants to clear out piles of 20-year-old minor traffic ticket records in 2020. Under Section 3, he drafts rules to destroy these low-value papers, obtains the State Government's previous approval, and officially disposes of them.

2A state revenue officer named Anil has boxes of routine tax receipts from 2015. The Chief Controlling Revenue-authority creates a disposal rule, gets the State Government's approval, and Anil can safely shred the receipts.

FAQ

1. What kind of documents can be destroyed under Section 3?

Only documents that are not of sufficient public value to justify keeping them.

2. Who makes rules for documents held by a High Court?

The High Court makes those rules.

3. Whose approval is needed for rules made by a High Court or Chief Controlling Revenue-authority?

They must get the previous approval of the State Government.

4. Who makes rules for public officer documents that relate to the purposes of a State?

The State Government, or any officer specially authorized by that Government.

Test yourself

Q1.Who has the authority to make rules for documents in subordinate civil or criminal courts?

Q2.Who makes rules for documents in the custody of Revenue Courts and officers?

Q3.Rules made by a High Court must be subject to the previous approval of which body?

Q4.Under what condition can documents be destroyed under Section 3?

Q5.Who makes rules for public officer documents that do NOT relate to the purposes of a State?

2PreviousSection 2 [Repealed.].4NextSection 4 Validation of former rules for disposal of documents.

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