Gujarat High Court Criminal Manual (subordinate court practice), 1977
The classification of the record and the marking and filing thereof as A, B, C, D should be done in accordance with the directions below:— (1) The papers, which are required to be preserved permanently, such as judgments in trials held before the Court of Session, should be marked "A" and kept in file "A". (2) The papers which are semi-permanent in nature, such as judgments of Court, other than the Sessions Court, should be marked "B" and kept in file "B". (3) The papers which have a bearing on the merits of the case, but which are not to be preserved for a long time, such as depositions, documents produced in evidence which are not required to be returned to the parties, confessions, statements of the accused etc., should be marked "C" and kept in file "C". (4) The papers having no bearing on the merits of the case, such as Vakalatnamas, remand orders, etc., should be marked "D" and kept in file "D". (5) The papers in file "A" shall be preserved permanently. The papers in file "B" shall be destroyed after 30 years. The papers in file "C" shall be destroyed after 5 years. The papers in file "D" shall be destroyed after 6 months. (6) The period prescribed above for the destruction of the record shall be computed from the date of the final decision of the case in the trial Court when no appeal or revision application has been filed and from the date of the final decision of the appellate or revisional Court when an appeal or a revision application has been filed. (7) While it is not possible to enumerate every document, which is required to be included in any particular file, a list of documents which should be included in the Files "A", "B", "C" and "D" respectively is given below for the guidance of the Courts. (8) All papers of cases on the dormant file, except cases under the Motor Vehicles Act and such other Acts as may be specified by the High Court, shall be preserved for 30 years and should be sent to the Record-room after 5 years from the date of the receipt of the charge sheet or the complaint, as the case may be. (9) All papers of cases on the dormant file under the Motor Vehicles Act and other Acts specified by the High Court, shall be despatched to the Record room after two years from the date of the receipt of the charge sheet or the complaint, as the case may be, and shall be destroyed after five years from the said date.