Ordinance of National Archive(Part 2)

Advisory Council

4. (1) The Government shall constitute an Advisory Council for the National Archives to be called the National Archives Advisory Council.

(2 ) The Advisory Council shall consist of the following Members, Namely:

(a) the Secretary, Sports and Culture Division, ex officio, who shall also be its Chairman;

(b) seven representatives, one each from the Cabinet Division, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Division, Sports and Culture Division, Ministry of Establishment and Reorganisation, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Education, to be nominated by the respective Division or Ministry;

(c) four representatives, one each from the History Departments of the Universities of Dhaka, Chittagong, Rajshahi and Jahangirnagar, to be nominated by the Vice Chancellor of the respective University; and

(d) the Director, ex officio, who shall also be its Member-Secretary.

(3) Every member of the Advisory Council, other than an ex officio member, shall, unless earlier replaced by the nominating body, hold office for a period of three years from the date of his nomination and shall be eligible for the nomination.

Meetings of the Advisory Council

5. (1) The meetings of the Advisory Council shall be held at such times and places as may be determined by the Chairman:

Provided that a meeting of the Advisory Council shall be summoned once at least in each period of three months or whenever the Council is required so to do by the Government.

(2) The Director shall, with the concurrence of the Chairman, convene meetings of the Advisory Council and be responsible for the maintenance of records and documents of the Advisory Council and shall perform other ancillary functions.

(3) To constitute a quorum at a meeting of the Advisory Council, not less than one third of the total number of members shall be present.

(4) All meetings of the Advisory Council shall be presided over by the Chairman or, in his absence, by a member elected for the purpose by the members present.

(5) All questions at a meeting of the Advisory Council shall be decided by a majority of the members present and voting, and, in the case of equality of votes, the person presiding shall have a second or casting vote.

(6) No act or proceedings of the meetings of the Advisory Council shall be invalid merely on the ground of any existence of a vacancy in, or defect in the constitution of, the Advisory Council

Functions of The Advisory Council

6. The functions of the Advisory Council shall be to advise the Government on all matters relating to the-
(a) location, preservation and use of public archives;
(b) custody and transfer of public records;
(c) inspection and preservation of documents and manuscripts of historical or cultural or literary value in private possession;
(d) inspection by members of the public archives;
(e) editing and publishing of public archives and private manuscripts

Appointment of Director

7. There shall be a Director who shall be appointed by the Government on such terms and conditions as the Government may determine

Powers & Duties of the Director

8. (1) Subject to the irection and control of the Government, the Director shall have charge of the National Archives and of the public archives deposited therein and, in addition to the specific functions conferred or imposed on him by this Ordinance, he shall take all such measures as are necessary for the conservation of public archives.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Ordinance and any rules made thereunder, the Director or any other officer of the National Archives authorised by him in writing in this behalf shall have the following powers or any other power conferred on him by the Government or the Advisory Council, as the case may be-
(a) make available and publish lists, indices, guides, inventories, calendars, texts, translation and such other things as may be necessary as aids to the public archives in his custody;
(b) subject such terms and conditions, if any, on which any records or manuscripts are transferred to, or acquired by, the National Archives, produce, edit, print or make any other public use of any public archives in his custody;
(c) provide for the restoration and conservation of public archives in a suitable manner and make photographic reproductions or duplicate copies of any public archives where necessary;
(d) produce or cause to be produced for inspection by an individual, any public archives open to public inspection;
(e) acquire by purchase, donation, bequest, contract, or otherwise or take on loan, any record, manuscript or document or any other material which, in his opinion, should be deposited in the National Archives for permanent preservation;
(f) examine any record or any other manuscript or document containing reference to Bangladesh or which had its origin in Bangladesh but lying outside Bangladesh, with a view to securing either on loan or by purchase, the original or any copy thereof;
(g) examine any collection of records of printed material in private possession for purposes of listing and recording and render such technical aid or assistance as may be necessary for the conservation and preservation of such records or printed materials; and
(h) hold public exhibitions or expositions of any class or description of public archives, private documents, manuscripts or printed materials deposited in the National Archives, either in the premises of the National Archives or elsewhere.

(3) The Director may in writing delegate any of his powers and functions under this Ordinance to any officer of the National Archives.

Selection and transfer of public records to the National Archives

9. (1) The Director shall have access to any place of deposit of public records and shall have the power to examine such records with a view to listing or collecting information there from or to taking such steps as are necessary for their transfer to the National Archives for permanent preservation.

(2) It shall be the duty of the responsible officer of any public office or any other person for the time being having custody of any public records-

(a) to afford the Director or any other officer authorised by him in writing all facilities for the examination and selection of such public records for permanent preservation and for the transfer of such records to the National Archives;
(b) to keep in safe custody in such office any class or description of public records selected by the Director or by such other officer pending the transfer of such records to the National Archives;
(c) to perform such duties in connection with selection and listing of such public records in his custody for transfer to the National Archives as may be required by the Director; and
(d) to transfer such records, being records not less than twenty five years old, as are required by the Director to be transferred to the National Archives for permanent preservation:

Provided that the transfer of any public records to the National Archives may be temporarily deferred and such records retained in the office of origin for administrative or other purposes for such period as may be agreed upon by the responsible officer of such office and the Director, and in every such case a list of records so retained shall be transferred to the Director by the responsible officer:
Provided further that the responsible officer transferring any public records which he may consider to be of a confidential or secret nature or which contain any other information which should not be divulged to the public may specify conditions subject to which such records shall be kept in the National Archives or shall be made available for public inspection, and it shall be the duty of the Director to comply with such conditions.

Destruction of records

10. The Director may authorise destruction of any specified classes of public records which-

(a) by reason of their number, kind or routine nature do not, in his opinion, possess any enduring value for preservation as public archives, and
(b) are not required for reference purposes in any public office after action on them is completed or after expiration of such period of years from the date on which action on them is completed as may be agreed upon between the Director and the administrative head of that public office.

Access of Public to Public Support

11. (1) Subject to the conditions under which any public records are made available or are deposited in the National Archives, public archives shall be made available to the public for the purpose of reference or research which are of more than thirty years old.

(2) All applications for the inspection of records shall be addressed to the Director