Chandigarh, Jul 30 (IANS): Unable to find storage space for old records pertaining to legal cases, the office of Haryana's Advocate General has decided to weed out the old files of the decided cases.

"The records pertaining to the period from Jan 1, 2009, to Dec 31, 2010, for civil matters and from Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2011, for criminal matters as well as cause lists of the high court will be weeded out," a spokesman of the A-G office said here Tuesday.

He said that before starting the process of weeding out these files, all head of departments in the Haryana government have been asked to take back within 30 days the court files pertaining to their departments of this period.

"Failing this, the files pertaining to the said period would be weeded out," he said.

The official did not make it clear whether the old files were to be destroyed.

The Advocate General's office, which deals with all legal cases of the Haryana government in various courts, had been pursuing with the Haryana chief secretary and Administration of Justice Department for providing additional space so that the files of the old decided cases could be stacked at alternative places.

"But the government had expressed its inability and conveyed that there was no space available with it to provide for alternative space to the office of Advocate General. Already, the situation in the record room of the office has become precarious and is posing the dangers of fire apart from creating unhygienic conditions for the staff working in the record room of this office," the spokesman added.