for how many years exit employee records should be maintained by HR .

Sir
An employee whose LWD was 28th aug 2015, is now claiming that he has not got reliving letter till date . He says he had resigned and left on the same day . which indicates that he had not served notice period which is mandatory to serve .Such cases are termed as abscond cases in our organisation . Iam not finding any old correspondences in this case . His reporting boss has also moved to some other organization .
Please guide me what to reply him
Also for how many years should HR maintain the records of their employees who have exited .

Dear member,
You may check my reply to the similar query given in the past. Click the following link:
https://www.citehr.com/457085-employ...ml#post2045789
Your problem is not the retention of the records per see. Your problem is not maintaining the proper records. If the employee had abandoned the duties or left without serving the notice period, then why the office note was not preserved in the employee file? Secondly, if the employee had left without proper notice then what kind of correspondence your company did with the employee and if the correspondence was done then were the hard copies preserved for the future records?
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

Mr Divekar
I joined only on 2017 .
I agree to your point . The company was very small then and some records were not maintained properly . That is the reason why iam seeking clarification now as to how to go resolve this .
there is limitation ACT applicable for all documents. Hence i want to know the period upto which we need to maintain records?

Dear member,
You may scan all the pages of the employee file. The soft copy can be preserved for any number of years. It can remain in the hard disk of the computer for any number of years.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

The ID Act 1947 as it originally stood, there was no limitation but by the amendment act of 2010 a limitation period of three years was put. The effect of amendment is that any workman who has been discharged, dismissed, retrenched or terminated as specified in sub-section (1) of Section 2A may make an application directly to the Labour Court or Tribunal for adjudication of his individual dispute after the expiry of 45 days from the date he has made an application to the conciliation officer of the appropriate Government for conciliation of the dispute. Sub-Section (3) of Section 2A lays down the time limit for making such application to Labour Court or Tribunal. It provides that such application to the Labour Court or Tribunal for adjudication of the dispute shall be made before the expiry of three years from the date of discharge, dismissal and retrenchment or otherwise termination of service as specified in sub- Section(1). So looking to that period of five years shall be safe for retaining physical records.

From the legal perspective, it will be a wise step to have a laid down policy on retention of records and also a specific order on the records so destroyed.