12/December/2014

 

Bill No. 180 of 2014

THE PUBLIC RECORDS (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2014

By

1. SHASHI THAROOR, M.P.

A

BILL

to amend the Public Records Act, 1993.

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-fifth Year of the Republic of India as follows:—

1. This Act may be called the Public Records (Amendment) Act, 2014.
2. In section 2 of the Public Records Act, 1993 (hereinafter referred to as the principal

Act),—

(i) after clause (d), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—

“(da) “private record” means a record created or received by a private

individual or a company or any other body other than the records creating

agency.”

(ii) for clause (e), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:—

“(e) ‘public records’ mean records created or received by a records creating

agency in pursuance of its activities and include—

(i) any document, manuscript and file;

AS INTRODUCED IN LOK SABHA

 

(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);

(iv) any electronic record;

(v) any recording generated, sent, received or stored in any media

and on which sounds or images or both are fixed or from which sounds or

images or both are capable of being reproduced; and

(vi) any other material produced by a computer or by any other

device regardless of form or medium.

Explanation.—The expression “electronic record” in sub-clause (iv) shall have the

same meaning as assigned to it in clause (t) of section 2 of the Information Technology

Act, 2000.”.

3. In section 3 of the principal Act,—

(a) in sub-section (2)—

(i) for clauses (l) and (m), the following clauses shall be substituted,

namely:—

“(l) acceptance, preservation and exhibition of private records of

historical or national importance which cannot be appropriately preserved,

managed, arranged or exhibited by a private individual or a company or

any other body creating or receiving those private records;

(m) making public records accessible, subject to fair and reasonable

restrictions, and promote their use by the public;”.

(ii) after clause (r), the following clauses shall be inserted, namely:—

“(s) granting permission for transfer of those public records that

have been in existence for less than twenty years to the National Archives

of India or, as the case may be, the Archives of the Union territory;

(t) seek clarifications from those records creating agencies that have

not furnished action taken report or have not complied with the provisions

of the Act and initiate appropriate legal proceedings;”; and

(b) after sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be added, namely:—

“(3) The Director General or the Head of the Archives shall submit an

Annual Report to the Central Government and Central Government shall cause

the Report to be laid, within fourteen days after its receipt, before each House of

Parliament, if Parliament is in session, and if Parliament is not in session, then

within fourteen days of the commencement of the session of Parliament.”.

4. In section 5 of the principal Act,—

(i) in sub-section (2), for the words “may set up”, the words “shall set up” shall

be substituted; and

(ii) after sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be added, namely:—

“(3) Each records creating agency shall publish information annually on

the public records that have been appraised, declassified or transferred to

the National Archives of India, or as the case may be, the Archives of the

Union territory.”.

5. In sub-section (1) of section 6 of the principal Act, for clause (c), the following

clause shall be substituted, namely:—

“(c) appraisal and transfer of public records which are in existence for twenty

years or more in consultation with the National Archives of India or, as the case may

be, the Archives of the Union territory with a view to preserve public records.”

6. In section 11 of the principal Act,—

(i) for sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall be substituted,

namely:—

“(1) The National Archives of India or the Archives of the Union territory

may accept, by way of gift, purchase or otherwise, preserve or exhibit private

records of historical or national importance which cannot be appropriately

preserved, managed or exhibited by a private individual or a company or any

other body creating or receiving those private records."; and

(ii) in sub-section (2), for the words “any bona fide research scholar” the words

“public for inspecting and obtaining copies thereof” shall be substituted.

7. For section 12 of the principal Act, the following sections shall be substituted,

namely:—

“12. (1) All unclassified public records which are in existence for more than

twenty years and are transferred to the National Archives of India, or as the case may

be, the Archives of the Union territory, shall, subject to fair and reasonable restrictions,

be made available to the public for inspection and obtaining copies.

Explanation I.—For the purposes of sub-section (1), the period of twenty years

shall be reckoned from the year of the opening of the public record.

Explanation II.—For the purposes of this section, the expression “reasonable

restrictions” shall include imposing restrictions in the interest of the sovereignty and

integrity of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states, public

order, incitement to an offence, or conditions of the donor of private records.

(2) Any records creating agency may grant to any person access to any public

record in its custody in such manner and subject to such conditions as may be

prescribed:

Provided that all unclassified public records, which are in existence for more

than twenty years and in the custody of any records creating agency, shall be made

available to the public for inspection and obtaining copies thereof, subject to fair and

reasonable restrictions, by making arrangements comparable to those made for public

records by the National Archives of India or the Archives of the Union territory.

12A. All classified records being maintained by the records creating agency

shall be declassified, for the purposes of this Act, on such date or event for

declassification, as determined by the concerned records creating agency but such

date or event shall not be more than twenty years from the date of the decision of

classification:

Provided that if the sensitivity of the information requires, the records creating

agency may mark the records as classified for upto twenty-five years, for the purposes

of this Act.”.

8. In section 13 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2),—

(i) in clause (b), for the words “and Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and

Pensions”, the words, “Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and

Ministry of Science and Technology” shall be substituted; and

(ii) for clause (d), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:—

“(d) ten persons to be nominated by the Central Government for a period

not exceeding three years, three being archivists, six being professors in the

Post-graduate Department of History in any recognized University and one

being an electronic or computer engineer.”.

9. In section 17 of the principal Act, in sub-section (2),—

(i) in clause (f), for the words “research scholar”, the word “public” shall be

substituted; and

(ii) for clause (g), the following clause shall be substituted, namely:—

“(g) fair and reasonable restrictions subject to which public records may

be made available to the public under section 12;”.

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

Records are created to serve as evidence of transactions and as testimony of the past.

By preserving records generated by our Government bodies and other record creating

agencies, the National Archives of India preserves the memory of the daily dealings of

Government, citizens, organizations and all connected activities. These archives eventually

become a keeper of our culture, history, achievements and failures.

The Public Records Act was enacted on 22nd December, 1993 to regulate the

administration, management and preservation of 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. It creates an onus on all the bodies of the Government to provide for the

safekeeping of information and records of their daily activities.

However, the Act has failed to establish a strong mechanism for accountability and

transparency. Even though an adequate punishment has been prescribed for the offenders,

in the absence of any authority constituted for initiating legal proceedings, the penal provisions

of the Act have never been invoked. Such procedural lacuna have resulted in ineffective

implementation of the provisions of the Act.

Further, there is a need to ensure that classified documents be de-classified and made

accessible to the public after the expiry of a reasonable time period. The declassification

process should not be left at the mercy of periodic reviews and the judgment of any one

individual. The ‘‘default option” should be that of openness and transparency. The

unclassified public records, however, should be made accessible subject to reasonable

restrictions involving the security of the state and public order.

It is also important to ensure that any citizen, whether a bona fide researcher or not,

should have access to inspect and obtain copies of unclassified records preserved by the

National Archives of India or any records creating agency. One should not feel the need to

resort to the Right to Information Act for obtaining information from Archives. It should

strictly be in the domain of the Public Records Act.

Hence this Bill.

NEW DELHI; SHASHI THAROOR

November 7, 2014.

FINANCIAL MEMORANDUM

Clause 8 of the Bill seeks to provide for reconstitution of the Archival Advisory Board

and increasing the number of members on the Board from thirteen to twenty-two.

All members of the Advisory Board shall be entitled to such travelling allowance and

daily allowance as may be determined by the Central Government. It is expected to be in

accordance with the rates admissible to 'Group A' officers of the Central Government. The

Bill, therefore, if enacted, would involve expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of India.

Further as expenditure would depend on the number of meetings of the Archival

Advisory Board, recurring or non-recurring expenditure cannot be anticipated at this stage.

6

MEMORANDUM REGARDING DELEGATED LEGISLATION

Clause 9 of the Bill empowers the Central Government to make rules to impose fair and

reasonable restrictions subject to which public records may be made available to the public.

As the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of power is, therefore, of a

normal character.

7

ANNEXURE

EXTRACT FROM THE PUBLIC RECORDS BILL, 1993

(69 OF 1993)

*****

2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

(a)* * * * *

(b)* * * * *

(c)* * * * *

(d)* * * * *

(e) "public records" includes—

1. any document, manuscript and file;
2. 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

1. any other material produced by a computer or by any other device, of

any records creating agency;

(f)* * * * *

(g) "records officer" means the officer nominated by the records creating agency

under sub-section (1) of section 5.

*****

3. (1)* * * * *

(2)* * * * *

(l) accepting records from any private source;

(m) regulating access to public records;

*****

(r) obtaining on lease or purchasing or accepting as gift any document of historical

or national importance.

*****

5. (1)* * * * *

(2) Every records creating agency may set up such number of record rooms in such

places as it deems fit and shall place each record room under the charge of a records officer.

*****

6. (1) The records officer shall be responsible for—

(a) * * * * *

(b) * * * * *

(c) appraisal of public records which are more than twenty-five years old in

consultation with the National Archives of India or, as the case may be, the Archives

of the Union territory with a view to retaining public records of permanent value;

*****

11. (1) The National Archives of India or the Archives of the Union territory may

accept any record of historical or national importance from any private source by way of gift,

purchase or otherwise.

(2) The National Archives of India or, as the case may be, the Archives of any Union

Territory may, in such manner and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, make

any record referred to in sub-section (1) available to any bona fide research scholar.

*******

12. (1) All unclassified public records as are more than thirty years old and are transferred

to the National Archives of India or the Achives of the Union territory may be, subject to

such exceptions and restrictions as may be prescribed, made available to any bona fide

research scholar.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this sub-section, the period of thirty years shall be

reckoned from the year of the opening of the public record.

(2) Any records creating agency may grant to any person access to any public record

in its custody in such manner and subject to such conditions as may be prescribed.

*****

13. (1)* * * * *

(2) The Board shall consist of the following members, namely:—

a.* * * * *

1. One officer not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India,

each from the Cabinet Secretariat, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defence,

Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Personnel, Public

Grievances and Pensions.

1. * * * * *
2. Three persons to be nominated by the Central Government for a period not

exceeding three years, one being an Archivist and two being Professors in the

Post-graduate Department of History in any recognized University.

*******

17. (1)* * * * *

(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power,

such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters,

*****

1. the manner in which and the conditions subject to which public records may be

destroyed or disposed of under sub-section (1) of section 8;

1. the manner in which and the conditions subject to which records of historical

or national importance may be made available to research scholar under sub-section

(2) of section 11;

*****

GMGIPMRND—3228LS(S3)—04.12.2014.

LOK SABHA

————

A

BILL

to amend the Public Records Act, 1993.

————

(Dr. Shashi Tharoor, M.P.)

Source: http://164.100.24.219/BillsTexts/LSBillTexts/AsIntroduced/3228LS.pdf
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