Times of India: Chennai: Saturday, 1St November
2025.
The land reforms department has sent a detailed circular to district collectorates and district revenue officers with instructions on how the documents and records should be maintained for easy accessibility and long life of documents. The instructions come after state information commission criticized the land reforms department for poor maintenance of records, as many petitions under Right to Information Act were often denied on the grounds of non-availability or non-traceability of the documents sought.
The circular said that the
records related to patta transfer, land acquisition, land ownership,
reclassification of lands, encroachment, leasing of govt lands, surrender of
lands, and tax schemes, should be maintained by the respective district
collectorates, after furnishing a copy to land reforms department. The records
should be properly classified as retention disposals (permanent documents),
disposals (documents to be quashed after 10 years), standing orders, and
current documents.
"When an RTI is filed to the land reforms department, it is forwarded to the district concerned under Section 6(3) of the RTI Act. So, the respective collectorate should dispose of the petition by furnishing the information sought," the circular said. The circular also detailed that the record room should ideally be on the ground floor with protection from sunlight, rain, and pests. While confidential records should be maintained separately with restricted access, the record rooms should be periodically dusted.
Records that are closed should be marked with black ink, while pending documents should be marked with red ink, with serial numbers and document numbers.
The land reforms department has sent a detailed circular to district collectorates and district revenue officers with instructions on how the documents and records should be maintained for easy accessibility and long life of documents. The instructions come after state information commission criticized the land reforms department for poor maintenance of records, as many petitions under Right to Information Act were often denied on the grounds of non-availability or non-traceability of the documents sought.
"When an RTI is filed to the land reforms department, it is forwarded to the district concerned under Section 6(3) of the RTI Act. So, the respective collectorate should dispose of the petition by furnishing the information sought," the circular said. The circular also detailed that the record room should ideally be on the ground floor with protection from sunlight, rain, and pests. While confidential records should be maintained separately with restricted access, the record rooms should be periodically dusted.
Records that are closed should be marked with black ink, while pending documents should be marked with red ink, with serial numbers and document numbers.
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