Files pile up in secretariat as space for storage shrinks in Archives

17 lakh historical documents among 30 lakh files in State Archives

Of late, the State secretariat is facing a strange problem. Vidhana Soudha, Vikas Soudha and MS building are overflowing with files, so much so, the section heads in some of the departments are virtually buried in their midst.

The reason for this strange situation is space constraint in the State Archives department, the custodian of government files. So severe is the problem that the State Archives has been refusing to accept ‘C’ class files sent to it by the various departments.

As a result, closed files (files over which transaction of business has been completed) have mounted in all the departments. And, there is also a fear of important files, especially those related to land issues in key departments, going missing due to the chaos.

Government files are categorised into three classes: ‘A’ (historical files which are preserved permanently), ‘B’ (files preserved for 30 years and ‘C’ (files preserved for 10 years).

Soon after a file is closed, the department should mark it as ‘C’ class and send it to the State Archives. Section heads are not supposed to keep a closed file in their office. There are 34 government departments, and each department has several sections. On an average, a section generates 1,000 files a year, sources said.

All departments should regularly verify whether files categorised as ‘C’ class are important or not and make appropriate recommendation to the Archives department. Important files should be categorised as B class. If not, steps should be taken to destroy them.

In 2007, the government decided to preserve ‘C’ class files from five to 10 years. The number of ‘C’ class files has almost doubled since then. Currently, there are an estimated six lakh ‘C’ class files, five lakh ‘B’ class files and two lakh ‘A’ class files.

Besides, about 17 lakh documents of historical importance are preserved in the State Archives located on the ground floors of the Vidhana Soudha and the Vikas Soudha. Despite an increase in the number of files, no step was taken to preserve them properly, sources said.

On December 6, Kannada and Culture department Secretary B Basavaraj wrote to Shalini Rajaneesh, principal secretary, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR), requesting her to direct all departments to take immediate steps to verify ‘C’ class files and dispose of the unimportant ones. He had also stated that due to the non-availability of space, the Archives had not been able to accept files and issue acknowledgements to departments. The State Archives comes under the Kannada and Culture department.

Basavaraj said: “We have a problem in preserving files. It has been brought to the notice of the DPAR. We hope steps will be taken to solve the problem.”