Supreme Court issues guidelines on retention and disposal of documents

CJI B R Gavai said over the years, the registry of apex court has witnessed a significant increase in volume and diversity of administrative records.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday issued detailed guidelines for retention and disposal of documents to create accountability and efficiency across all registry wings, in a move to remove lacunae over the management of administrative records.

In a message, Chief Justice of India B R Gavai said over the years, the registry of the Supreme Court has witnessed a significant increase in the volume and diversity of administrative records generated across multiple branches.

"While judicial records pertaining to case proceedings are governed by explicit provisions contained in Order LVI of the Supreme Court Rules, 2013, and further elaborated in Chapter XXI of the Handbook on Practice and Office Procedure of the Supreme Court of India, 2017, a lacuna has persisted with respect to the management of administrative records," he said.

The CJI emphasised this disparity leads to inconsistent practices across branches, affecting archival clarity and efficiency. 

He pointed out the 'Guidelines for Retention and Destruction of Records 2025' aimed to remedy this by promoting coherence, accountability, and efficiency in managing administrative records, including institutional decisions, policy implementations, inter-departmental correspondences, audits, and engagements with external stakeholders.

CJI Gavai underscored the importance of properly managing these records for transparency and accountability and guidelines to establish a rational framework.

"Operational efficiency is enhanced by the systematic elimination of obsolete documents, easing storage burdens and improving record retrieval speed. The Guidelines ensure compliance with audit and statutory obligations by defining appropriate retention periods based on fiscal, legal, an administrative relevance. They are aligned with national public record management standards."

The guidelines were issued after a detailed consultations among registrars and officials of the registry.

According to the guidelines, original submission notes or paper books bearing signatures of the chief justice of India and judges of the Supreme Court to be preserved permanently. Further, policy files, office orders and circular files were to be preserved permanently.

"The retention period of the records shall start after the final action or disposal of arbitration, litigation, enquiry or audit as the case may be. All the branches concerned, before destroying files/cases/records will ensure that no court case is pending in respect of the subject matter of the files/cases/records being destroyed/ weeded out," it said.

In case the records of one branch or wing were co-related with those a different branch or records relating to the confidential branch, an intimation on "the pendency of court case is to be sent to them as soon as the court case is received in the section". Destruction and retention of records by the relevant branches should be carried out after due approval from the registrar concerned, it added.

"The exercise of destruction of record normally be carried out during summer vacation/partial court working days. In case a scanned copy of documents/records is to be preserved beyond the retention period for the reasons to be recorded in writing decision may be taken by the concerned Registrar at the time of destruction of the record(s)," the guidelines stated.

It also said financial and budget-related documents and files should be maintained separately for each financial year with effect from April 1 to March 31. 

All other records, registers may be maintained separately for each calendar year, i.e., January 1 to December 31, it added.