The following rules have been made under Section 3 of the Destruction of Records Act, 1917 (Central) and Section 2 of the Madhya Bharat Destruction of Records Act, 1952 (32 of 1952);Section IRecords other than those of Courts of Small Causes and Miscellaneous non-judicial cases.(1)A, File shall be preserved for ever,-A-1. Files shall be destroyed at the end of 12 years.B. Files shall be destroyed at the end of 25 years.C. Files shall be destroyed at the end of 12 years.D. Files shall be destroyed at the end of 1 year.Note. - An original will presented under Section 276 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, is not a part of the record within the meaning of this rule. As required by Section 294 of the Act, all original wills should be permanently preserved. Where a grant of probate or letters of administration with copy of the will annexed has been made, the original will shall forthwith be forwarded to the District Registrar. In other cases each will shall be placed, after destruction of its connected record, in a special bundle devoted to this purpose and labelled accordingly.(2)The above periods shall be calculated as regards suits or cases of classes I, II and HI from the date of the final decree or order, which in cases in which appeals are filed, will be that of the appellate Court. But in cases in which the decree or any subsequent order directs payment of money or delivery of property at a future fixed date or at recurring intervals, then the periods shall be calculated from such fixed date or from the end of the last of such recurring intervals, as the case may be.(3)In cases of class IV the period shall be reckoned from the date on which the application for execution was finally disposed of by the Court executing the decree or by a Court of appeal, whichever is the later date. For the purposes of this rule each execution record shall be dealt with separately, irrespective of any other application to execute the same decree or order.(4)Cumbrous and bulky exhibits, such as account books, village papers, and the like which cannot be conveniently put up with the records of the case in which they have been used, but which have to be preserved separately, e.g., in almirahs, boxes and bundles, may be destroyed, under the orders of the District Judge, after the expiry of the period of one year from the date of the decree becoming final. In such cases notice of the intended destruction shall be served one clear month before the expiry of the said period on the parties concerned or on their pleaders.(5)Elimination of D Files shall be done month by month. Each month the record-room registers of the thirteenth month back should be examined for the purposes. As far as possible similar monthly examinations should be made for the elimination of A-l, B and C Files, work on these being brought up-to-date by the end of each civil Court vacation. The ordinary monthly examination should be supplemented by-(a)a monthly examination of the registers 24 months further back, for the purpose of eliminating D Files;(b)an examination of the registers in each of the two successive vacations following that in or next before which the original examination was made, for the purpose of eliminating A-l, B and C Files.(6)A note of every paper, register or record taken out for destruction shall, at the time of removal, be made in the appropriate record-room register and shall be initialled by the record keeper. If in any case the destruction is not effected, the note shall be cancelled under the record-keeper's initials.(7)The destruction of all papers shall ordinarily be effected by burning in the presence of the record-keeper acting under the supervision of a Judge.At stations where there is a District or Central Jail, the Superintendent of which has certified that he will arrange for the prompt removal of waste paper, the District Judge may direct that all destruction shall be effected by tearing into small pieces. Before giving such a direction the District Judge shall satisfy himself that proper receptacle for temporary storage of waste paper pending removal is available and shall take all other precautions necessary to minimise the risk of damage by fire to records which have to be retained.Section II-Records of Miscellaneous Non-Judicial Cases(8)In records of miscellaneous non-judicial cases shall be destroyed at the end of three years from the date on which the cases were disposed of.Section III-Records Of Courts Of Small Causes(9)In cases where no one is entitled to recover anything, the record shall be destroyed one year from the date of the decree or order finally disposing of the case. In cases where a decree has been fully satisfied, the record shall be destroyed at the end of one year from the date of satisfaction of the decree. In other cases where satisfaction is not obtained in Court or certified earlier, the record shall be destroyed at the end of the twelve years from-(a)the date of the decree sought to be executed, or(b)where the decree or any subsequent order directs payment of money or delivery of property to be made at the fixed date or at recurring intervals, the date so fixed, or the end of the last of such recurring intervals, as the case may be.The record of proceedings in execution of a decree deposited in the record-room after the expiry of twelve years from the date of the decree shall be destroyed after one year from the date of the final order passed in the proceedings.Section IV-Record-Room Registers(10)The record-room register, both of regular and Small Cause Courts, should be preserved for the same period for which the records to which they relate are preserved.
