The land reforms department has issued a comprehensive circular to district collectorates and district revenue officers, providing guidance on the maintenance of documents and records to ensure their easy accessibility and longevity.
This directive follows criticism from the state information commission regarding the inadequate upkeep of records by the land reforms department, as numerous petitions filed under the Right to Information Act were frequently rejected due to the unavailability or inability to trace the requested documents.
According to the circular, records pertaining to patta transfers, land acquisitions, land ownership, land reclassification, encroachments, leasing of government lands, land surrenders, and tax schemes must be preserved by the respective district collectorates, with a copy submitted to the land reforms department.
These records should be systematically categorized into retention disposals (permanent documents), disposals (documents to be destroyed after 10 years), standing orders, and current documents.
“When an RTI request is submitted to the land reforms department, it is forwarded to the relevant district in accordance with Section 6(3) of the RTI Act. Therefore, the respective collectorate is responsible for addressing the petition by providing the requested information,” the circular stated.
Furthermore, the circular specified that the record room should ideally be situated on the ground floor, protected from sunlight, rain, and pests. While confidential records must be stored separately with limited access, the record rooms should be regularly dusted. Records that are closed should be indicated with black ink, whereas pending documents should be marked with red ink, including serial numbers and document numbers.
