Archival Advisory Board — Right to Information (RTI) Notes

Archival Advisory Board

This is pure recall, and it is the easiest eight marks in Unit IV — provided you have the section number and the chairman right, because both are commonly got wrong. It is section 13, not section 4 (s. 4 is the ban on taking records out of India). And the chairman is the Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry dealing with Culture — ex officio, not the Minister. There is no vice-chairman.

Constitution, composition and functions

A. Constitution (s. 13(1))

The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, constitute an Archival Advisory Board for the purposes of the Act. It is a statutory advisory body — note the word “may”.

B. Composition (s. 13(2))

Learn this exactly; it is a table in the Act. The Chairman, ex officio, is the Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry dealing with Culture. The members ex officio are one officer not below the rank of Joint Secretary from each of the Cabinet Secretariat, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of External Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Then two representatives (of Joint Secretary rank) of the Union Territory Administrations, nominated by the Central Government; and three nominated persons (for a period not exceeding three years) — one an archivist and two professors in the post-graduate department of history of a recognised university. The Member-Secretary, ex officio, is the Director General of Archives. Under s. 13(3) the three nominated members are paid such allowances as may be prescribed (Rule 12 sets these at Group ‘A’ TA/DA rates).

C. Functions (s. 14)

The Board shall advise the Central Government and the Union Territory Administrations on the administration, management, conservation and use of public records (a); lay down guidelines for the training of archivists (b); give directions for the acquisition of records from private custody (c); and deal with any other prescribed matter (d). It is an advisory body, not an executive one — it advises; the Director General (s. 3(2)) and the Records Officers (ss. 5–7) do the actual keeping. Its composition — Home, Defence, External Affairs and Finance sitting beside an archivist and two historians — is deliberately built to hold security and scholarship in the same room.

Section 14, Public Records Act, 1993: “The Board shall perform the following functions, namely — (a) advise the Central Government and Union territory Administrations on matters concerning the administration, management, conservation and use of public records; (b) lay down guidelines for training of Archivists; (c) give directions for acquisition of records from private custody; (d) deal with such other matters as may be prescribed.”

In Simple Terms: Four functions — advise on managing and using records; lay down training guidelines for archivists; direct the acquisition of private records; and anything else prescribed. Note that the functions are in s. 14 and the composition in s. 13 — two different sections.

🧩 WORKED EXAMPLE — acquiring a Prime Minister’s private papers

Facts. The National Archives wishes to acquire the private papers of a former Prime Minister, held by his family.

Rule. PRA s. 11 (acceptance of records from a private source); s. 14(c) (Board gives directions for acquisition from private custody); s. 13(2) (composition).

Apply. Section 11 lets the National Archives accept records of historical importance from a private source. But the initiative is a matter of policy, and it is the Archival Advisory Board under s. 14(c) that gives the directions for acquisition — the two history professors and the archivist speaking to historical value, and Home, Defence and External Affairs to any security sensitivity.

Conclusion. The Board, chaired by the Secretary (Culture) with the Director General as Member-Secretary, directs the acquisition; the papers are then made available for bona fide research under s. 11.

flowchart TD
    A["Archival Advisory Board — s. 13(1)<br/>(NOT s. 4)"]
    A --> B["CHAIRMAN, ex officio — the SECRETARY<br/>(Culture); NOT the Minister;<br/>no vice-chairman"]
    A --> C["MEMBERS — one Joint Secretary each from<br/>Cabinet Sectt., Home, Defence, External<br/>Affairs, Finance, Personnel"]
    A --> D["TWO Union Territory representatives;<br/>THREE nominated — one archivist,<br/>two history professors"]
    A --> E["MEMBER-SECRETARY, ex officio — the<br/>DIRECTOR GENERAL of Archives"]
    A --> F["FUNCTIONS — s. 14: advise · training<br/>guidelines · directions to acquire<br/>private records"]
    classDef box fill:#e8f0fe,stroke:#333,color:#111;
    class A,B,C,D,E,F box;

Case Laws

S.P. Gupta v. Union of India (1981) — the public interest in the preservation and eventual accessibility of the records of government; the rationale of an archival regime.
CBSE v. Aditya Bandopadhyay (2011) — the right to information depends on records being properly kept; the statutory archival machinery serves that end.

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