The reference to legal requirement regrading personal/servcie record of an employee can be traced to Rule 10-B of Industrial Employment(Standing Orders) Central Rules framed under the Industrial Employment(Standing Orders) Act 1946 which states that servcie record matters relating to servcie card, token tickets, certificationof servcie, change of residential address of workers and record of age, shall be maintained. If your establishment is one covered under Industrial Employment Standing Orders Act, (please check whether Central Rules are applicable to you in Delhi), this is one provision to take notice of.
Further employment is a contract within the meaning of Indian Contract Act 1872 and the rights and obligations of the employer and the employee is governed by the terms of employment stipulated in the appointment letter which is the basis of the contract between the employer and the employee and thus constitutes a legal document for any future referenc with regard to any dispute inrespect of the rights and obligations of the employer or the employee. Hence a copy of the appointment letter duly acknowledged by the employee, shall be properly preserved in a file concerning the workman.
Similarly, there may be many such personal information whiach has legal significance for future like Income Tax certificates in Form-16 or ESI and P.F codes of the employees which may have to be referred in future and need to be preserved as legal evidence under respective statutes.
Hope this helps in understanding the legal requirement for maintaining personal files.
B.saikumar
HR & Labour law advisor