Section 2 of PRA, 1993 : Section 2: Definitions

Explanation using Example

Imagine a situation where a researcher is seeking access to historical documents pertaining to the economic policies of India during the 1990s. The researcher approaches the National Archives for this purpose. Here's how the definitions from Section 2 of The Public Records Act, 1993 would apply:

• The Board, as mentioned in the Act, would be the Archival Advisory Board that might have guidelines on how the researcher can access the records.
• The Director General of Archives would oversee the operations of the National Archives, and could be the authority to grant permission for access to the archives or delegate the task to another officer.
• If the researcher needed records from a Union territory, the head of the Archives of that Union territory would be the relevant authority to approach.
• The procedure the researcher must follow to access the records would be prescribed by rules made under the Act.
• The documents the researcher wishes to view are considered public records, which could include any microfilms, files, or computer-generated material from the 1990s.
• The records creating agency in this case might be the Ministry of Finance, which would have created the economic policy documents during the 1990s.
• A records officer from the Ministry of Finance would be nominated to help facilitate the researcher's access to the documents.