Electronic Record Retention Policy in India

Introduction:

In the present era, it is necessary that electronic-records are stored in a safe place. The process of storing records electronically has been proved as one of the safest and secure ways of storing records. The motive is to protect the security of the records and prevent unauthorized access to the records. It also provides the legal basis for the records. Now, along with storing the records, the data mustn’t be recorded or kept after the required period is over. The retention on storing of data is as important as record management.

The electronic record retention policy is a set of general statements or protocols which guide the review, retention, and discarding of the electronic data. The main objective is to identify the electronic documents that need to be maintained, the periods for which they can be kept, and the way to discard the electronic record.

The Department of Administration Reforms & Public Grievances is responsible for guidelines and formulation of Records Retention Schedule for records related to facilitative functions common to all Ministries/Government Departments in order to ensure consistency in record retention schedules relating to establishment, staff and housekeeping issues and common job. Along with them, it is the responsibility of the National Archives of India to formulate guidelines on record management and reviewing record preservation schedules for records relating to the substantive functions of all Government of India Ministries/Departments/Offices/PSUs.

Purpose

The purpose of the Electronic record retention policy is to make the process of storing, maintaining, and discarding effective, organized, and easy. The purpose is to help the process in the following ways:

1. It will be helpful for future litigation purposes.
2. A systematic review of the records stored will be maintained; hence it will be time effective.
3. Confidentiality is maintained.
4. It prevents the accessibility of the data to unauthorized people.
5. It is cost-time effective and as all the records are stored online it also saves space.
6. As the retention period is already determined, the possibility of conflict will be less. Also, the Policy helps in avoiding the liability of soring a record after a particular period.
7. A routine will be maintained for the retention of the electronic records.

Scope

Under the Electronic record retention policy, the Electronic record retention schedule is made. Often the Electronic data retention schedule is part of the policy itself. Electronic record retention is a set of classifications, arrangements, and numbering schemes that are to be adopted during this course of policy. These classifications, arrangements, retention period, etc. are decided as per the record types. The Electronic data retention schedule is divided into 2 parts:

1. Record Retention Schedule for Records pertaining to Facilitative Functions: Matters falling under the following departments are dealt with in this:
   1. Establishment, Personal, and Housekeeping matters.
   2. Common office procedure and thing mentioned as mentioned in the Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure (12th edition, New Delhi, 2003), Para 111 (1) (c), and Appendix 28
   3. Financial matters

The above-mentioned categories are followed by:

1. Record Preservation Schedule for Records Common to All Departments: This is issued by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India.
2. Manual of Office Procedures of the Central Secretariat: This is issued by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India, paragraph 111(1)(c) and Appendix 28.
3. General Laws of Economy, 1963: This is issued under Rule 284 and Appendix 13 of the Ministry of Finance.

2. Record Retention Schedule for Records pertaining to Substantive Functions: Record Retention Schedule for Records pertaining to Substantive Functions are the records related to a Records Creating Agency (RCA) which contains information pertaining to the functions related to that particular organization. The Retention Schedule for records relating to each RCA’s Specific Functions will then be based on the records it creates.

Steps

1. Study on the organization’s structure and functions: This will include the study of the organization’s hierarchy, its organizational goals and objectives, its roles and functions, etc.
2. Work Distribution Analysis among different divisions, branches, units, cells, sections, etc.: This exercise would support in short-listing the different divisions, branches, units, cells, sections, etc. assigned to the work relevant to the organization’s substantive functions.
3. Current and Semi-Current Record-Series/Record-Groups study: The purpose of this step is to identify record-series/record-groups created by an RCA relating to the Substantive Function. In order to classify different subject-heads and their sub-heads under which electronic data are generated in that RCA, it will require a physical evaluation of file registers, filing manuals, and the current and semi-current data.
4. Subject-head list (including sub-heads) and Record-group listing: This step includes listing of different subject-heads, and their sub-heads and record-groups, under which a division, branch, unit, cell, section, etc. is formed. Preferably, this listing should be done under the division, branch, unit, cell, section, etc.
5. Prescribing of electronic record retention period
6. Forwarding to the National Archives of India the draft Records Retention Schedule for Verification: The electronic record Retention Schedule then collected by the RCA which is then forwarded to the National Archives of India for review by the RCA before its implementation.

The electronic retention policy is extremely useful in keeping track of the retention periods. Every electronic record. This retention period of electronic data is tracked by the Electronic Document management system. Electronic Document management system is the system that acts as a managing tool and helps in the creation, sharing, storing, organizing, accessing, securing, and determining the retention period of the electronic data. Once the retention period is over, the electronic data should be destroyed.

It is important to know that what type of records which are required to have retention. Following is the list of the records which should have required retention:

1. Business Documents.
2. Employee and Personal Records.
3. Financial Records.
4. Insurance records.
5. Medical Records and PHI.
6. Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks.
7. Pension and Profit sharing Records.
8. Real Estate Documents.

Retention Period

Retention periods can be defined as a period for which the records can be retained or maintained. It can be said that it is determined the life-cycle of the records. Any organization can keep as long as the law allows. Any records management program must ensure that at least the minimum specified periods are maintained for legally necessary records. However, there are certain conditions under which the records can be kept for longer:

1. There might be records that the organization feels are essential to maintaining historical continuity, such as minutes of meetings for strategic planning or sessions for policy creation.
2.  Litigation or regulatory inquiries and compliance measures.

Process of Implementing

1. Setting up of a Common Retention Schedule: An organization should prepare a common retention schedule for all the divisions of the organization.
2. Determining the Record Retention Period: The Record Retention Period is the duration of time for which the organization can keep the records. As various types of electronic information are generated and managed by different departments within an organization, the retention period also depends on the internal information governance and records management policies into consideration.
3. Implementation of the Electronic record retention schedule
4. Continuous Review: It is in the best interest of the organization to continuously assess the electronic records & schedules and change them according to the requirement.

Laws in India

There is no central act for the electronic record retention policy. The law in India related to the electronic retention policy are as follows:

1. Rule 6 of the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records of the Nature and Value of Transactions, of the Banking Companies, Financial Institutions and Intermediaries) Rules, 2005: According to this, the matters give under rule 3 which is all cash transactions, cheques, credits, debits, drafts, internet transfers; loans etc. have a retention period of 10 years.
2. Section 6(1)(e)The Public Records Act, 1993: Compilation of a schedule of retention for public records in constitution with the National Archives of India or, as the case may be, the Archives of the Union territory.[1]

Rashmi Kumari Complainant v. Central Public Information Officer Sr.[2]

In this case, the complainant, Rashmi Kumari filed an RTI on 22.09.2014. The complainant in the RTI asked about the name of the postman who delivered an article on 03.10.2011. The respondent here argued that the record was not available as it was disposed of. The record retention period was 18 months for such records. The court disposed of the complaint.

Conclusion

To conclude, it can be said that Electronic Record Retention Policy has proved to be one of the best of the pre-requisites of good record management is to ensure that records are not prematurely lost or retained at the cost of economy and efficiency for longer periods than necessary. A Records Retention Schedule (RRS) must also be drawn up by the organizations responsible for creating records in order to implement judicious retention periods for different types of records.

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References:

[1] The Public Records Act, 1993, Acts of Parliament,1993 (India).

[2] Rashmi Kumari Complainant v. Central Public Information Officer Sr, 2017, CIC.