(a) The ordinary and contingent expenses of operating the offices of the clerks of the branches of the Appellate Court, including salaries, shall be determined by the Supreme Court and paid from the State Treasury on the warrant of the Comptroller out of appropriations made for that purpose by the General Assembly. The clerk of each branch of the appellate court shall perform the duties usually devolving upon clerks of courts in this State, and shall provide books, stationery and seals for the appellate courts, and shall be entitled to receive the same fees for services in each branch of the appellate court as are allowed for like services in the Supreme Court. All fees paid to or received by any such clerk shall be paid into the Supreme Court Special Purposes Fund, except that any filing fees designated by Supreme Court Rule for alternative dispute resolution programs in the reviewing courts as provided in the Reviewing Court Alternative Dispute Resolution Act shall, within one month after receipt, be remitted to the State Treasurer for deposit in the Mandatory Arbitration Fund.
     (b) The clerks shall, on the order and under the direction of the court, destroy any or all the records certified by the clerk (or a judge) of a trial court in cases finally decided more than 21 years prior to the entry of the order.