POSTAL MANUAL VOLUME-II

-Department is divided into three distinct wings, viz, Postal Operations, Civil Wing and Finance and Accounts

-Training Units=6(As per annual reports 2019)

-Any representation which is not an appeal should be designated as a petition

-The period of 6 months should count after the date on which the petitioner was informed of the original orders of the authority concerned.

-The Head of a Circle or any other authority directly subordinate to the Director General

-The Head of a Circle or any other authority directly subordinate to the Director General will forward quarterly to The Director General a list of petitions.

- “Petition” includes memorials, letters and applications of the nature of petitions.

-A petition may be either in type or in print

-All Gazetted Officers in the Posts Department also authorised to sign Vakalatnama on behalf Of the Central Government.

-When the offender is an officer appointed by the Director-General or higher authority, criminal proceedings against him should in no circumstances be instituted without the sanction of the Director-General.

-A criminal prosecution in a non-cognizable case must not be instituted without the previous sanction of the Head of the Circle.

-Magistrate is likely to fix for enquiring into the offence will be 14 days from the institution of the case

-All persons employed in the Indian Postal Department are exempt from liability to serve as Jurors or Assessors in courts.

-Heads of Circles may, at their discretion, exempt any GDS or class of GDS from the obligation to furnish Security.

-In the case of a security furnished by officers employed in first class head offices, the postmaster will perform the duties of examining the bond and recording the certificate required by the above rule.

-Form Sec. 39: - personal bonds certificate (These surety certificates will be kept on record for two years only)

-Officer under whose custody the bonds are kept do not exceed 40

-When a surety dies, becomes insolvent or withdraws from his surety ship or when a bond is lost and the principal has less than ten years’ service the latter will be required to furnish fresh security.

-When a surety dies or becomes insolvent or when a bond is lost and the principal has ten years’ service or more, fresh surety may, at the discretion of the Head of the Circle.

-Rule 216 to 222 apply also to the bonds of postmasters and inspectors which are kept in the office of the Head of the Circle.

-Form Sec. 19: register of bonds

-Additional register for Security deposit accounts should also be maintained in form A. C. G. 43

-Refund of security deposit: In no case should a refund be authorized before the expiry of six months after the vacation of his office by the employee

-Custody of security bonds: joint custody of the Postmaster and the Accountant.

-The Post office certificates must be locked in a tin box with the security bonds & The box should be kept in the office safe.

-Alteration of form of security: If the whole amount of the security in the new form is not deposited at once, the balance must be made up by installments of not less than 1/6 (one sixth) of the employee’s pay.

-The bond should be preserved for five years and may then be destroyed (in case of a breach of the terms of the bonds is Retain 30 years from the date of such breach)

-Forfeiture of security deposits: the employee quitting the service without properly accounting for all moneys, stores and valuables in his custody and without satisfactorily adjusting his accounts or without permission or without giving at least three months’ notice.

-forfeited the form of security bond must be sent to the Head of the Circle or the Administrative Office.

-Unclaimed deposits: Deposits of employees that remain unclaimed for three years after their refund becomes admissible are to be credited to Government under the head “Miscellaneous Revenue”

-Director-General who may authorize refund of the amount.

-The officer in charge of an office must daily examine the condition of the locks of the main doors leading into the office and at least once a month that of the locks of the boxes, etc., in the office

-When locks get out of order or damaged or become unserviceable in any way, they should not be repaired locally, but should in all cases be returned to the Depot.

-In the case of safes purchased from private manufacturers only one key will be supplied with the safe, the duplicate being retained in the Depot.

-Register of duplicate keys of steel almirahs, lockers, etc. with body lock supplied to offices in the Divisions by The Divisional Office

-Indents prepared by first class postmasters do not require countersignature

-*From now onwards burning of papers should be avoided, instead, the spoilt and or obsolete receipt books, pass books etc., should be destroyed by shredding. (OM dated 25.08.2020)

-Every article of stock must be obtained from or through the Depot

-If an article of stock which can be procured locally then permission from next higher authority

-Articles of stock indented for, the supply of which has been sanctioned by the Head of the Circle, will be received direct from the Depot, with an invoice (Form S.K.-3 triplicate)

-Numbering of invoices: consecutively numbered in an annual series commencing with No. 1 from the 1^st of April in each year.

-An indent in Form SK-85 will be placed direct on the supplying agency in all cases, where there is no variation, in the demand from the authorised supply or the variation is within 10 per cent of the prescribed limit.

-The Postal Stores Forms and Seals, Aligarh and Regional Forms Depots at Nashik, Bhubaneshwar, Thrissur and Kolkata will supply forms in bulk to other Postal Stores/Stock Depots.

-This forecast will be followed by two half-yearly indents-one in March and the other in September.

-Buffer stock as 25 per cent

-Examination of bags: Every postmaster or record clerk, as the case may be, should at least once in every quarter.

-Black and magenta stamping-ink will be supplied by the Stock Depot on indents received

-Description of various kinds of scales: Goldsmith’s scales.

-No office is allowed to fix its own equipment and the equipment for stationery or all offices must be sanctioned by Heads of Circles.

-Every record clerk must keep a stationery register in form SK-8.

-Every record clerk prepares regular indents on the Store-Depot for articles of stationery (Form SK-11), and sorting-case labels (Form SK-12)

-Indents for stationery should ordinarily be submitted half-yearly

­-Guard-books should be indented for once in three years

-The Superintendent will furnish every record clerk with a stationery rate list (Form Sk-9)

-The invoice should be prepared in triplicate

-Sorting-case labels are printed and supplied by the store’s depot

-The hand-bags supplied to sorting Assistant mail guards and van-peons are the property of Government

- The delegated financial power to PMG/CPMG, as amended by the IF Wing of the Postal Directorate from time to time.

- Tenders, which should always be sealed, should be called for in Form 51(a) in the case of conveyance of Mails by any mode of conveyance.

- standard form of lease (Gen. 8)

- The ‘points of defence’ should be based on actual conditions of the contract

- Indian Stamp Act, 1899

Advances to contractors:

- The value of the materials is assessed by the officer-in-charge.

- The amount of advance should not exceed 75 per cent of the assessed value of the materials

- Advances up to Rs. 50 in each case may be granted by the Head of the Circle in cases in which it is found absolutely necessary to make such advances in the interest of the work.

- Heads of Circles may give advances up to a maximum of Rs. 5,000 in each case to Municipalities.

- Postal Life Insurance includes Rural Postal Life Insurance also.

- Agreements and other instruments for the conveyance of forms, leases for hire of buildings and lands for Postal Forms Store: by the Superintendents of Postal Forms Stores, Kolkata/Nasik Road, Superintendent of Postal Forms and Seals.

- Subsidy payable to the contractor does not exceed Rs. 350 a month and that the amount of the subsidy is not more than the departmental cost involved.

- Before the contractor actually takes up the work, he should be required to deposit an amount as agreed upon in the form 51(c).

- The term “Buildings” means and includes all buildings occupied by the Department of Posts.

- To hire a building, a tender in Form Genl.-22 should be called.

- The ownership of all Government buildings occupied by the Indian Posts and Telegraphs Department on 1^st April, 1921 vests in the Department, even, though the buildings may have been constructed or acquired out of State Revenues.

- A building in the joint use of more than one branch of the erstwhile P&T Department may be termed a “Joint” Building.

- Building projects are divided into three classes— “Original works,” “Reconstruction work” and “Repairs or Maintenance.”

- “Original works’’= existing buildings costing above Rs. 30,000 excluding overhead charges.

- “Reconstruction works” = existing buildings costing above Rs. 30,000 excluding overhead charges.

- Permanent departmental buildings and land, the book value of which does not exceed Rs. 1 Lakh, may be sold under the sanction of the head of a Circle.

- If the book value of the buildings and land exceeds Rs. 1 Lakh, the case should be referred to the Director-General.

- If the prices of the land recommended by the Negotiation Committee exceeds the valuation done by the revenue authorities by more than 5% the case shall invariably be referred to the Directorate for consideration.

- CPWD: Central Public Works Department

-MES= Military Engineer Services.

- For works, each item of which is covered by the C.P.W.D. Rs. 30,000 for each individual work schedule of rates= Rs. 30,000 for each individual work.

- The Director concerned will examine the tenders and submit the case with his recommendations for the approval of the Head of the Circle.

- The Head of a Circle has full powers of sanction and allotment of funds in respect of repairs to buildings.

- On capital invested after 1-4-64, at the prevalent dividend rate, i.e. 6%.

- All Heads of Circles may sanction, without reference to the provisions in this para, fixed consolidated establishment charges of Rs. 130/- per month in r/o A&B-1 city and of Rs. 110/- per month in respect of B-II, C and Unclassified towns to the incumbents of Sub-Divisional Offices when an accommodation for their offices cannot be provided by the Department.

- Heads of Circles will be responsible for the custody of boundary and building plans.

- Post Box Cabinet= 1.7 sq.m. for each Post Box Cabinet of 32 pigeon holes.

- Store Room= 11.3 sq.m. Subject to a maximum of 23.2 sq.m. Depending upon the importance of the offices.

- The rate of additional accommodation for future expansion in respect of Forms and Records rooms and amenity block should be 12½ per cent of the justified accommodation.

- Normally 25 per cent of additional accommodation should be provided on the justified accommodation for working space.

- Inspection rooms may, if necessary, be provided with the previous sanction of the Director-General.

- In no case the width of public space should exceed 7.13 m. so as to avoid use of pillars.

- Fire Extinguishers and refills are not stock items and purchases should be made against the rate or running contracts entered into by the D.G. Supplies and Disposal.

- In hiring a building, a lease should be executed in Form Genl. 8

- In all cases regular lease deed in Form Gen.-8-A

- The term “family” used in the rule should be interpreted as defined in S.R. 2(8).

- The Head of a Circle should review his orders at least once in two years to see that the number of articles of furniture issued is essential in the interest of office work and no curtailment is possible.

- When displayed in a straight line with Flags of other countries, the National Flag shall be on the extreme right.

- When the Flag is displayed against a wall with another Flag from crossed staffs, it shall be on the right.

- The National Flag is to be flown at half mast during the period of State-Mourning only on those buildings where it is flown daily.

- ‘Vande Mataram’ shall be honoured equally with ‘Jana Gana Mana’.

- Vande Mataram’ should be sung or played at the beginning and ‘Jana Gana Mana’ at the end of the function.

- The spelling of post office should be verified from the local revenue records and confirmed by the Regional Director of the Surveyor-General of India.

- In communicating with officers of the department, subscription “Yours faithfully” (Now ‘’yours sincerely’’ used) should be used.

- The term “counterparts” may be taken to include Heads of postal administrations of small Countries such as Afghanistan, Malaya.

- Form Corr-22 should be used for unimportant correspondence

- Form Corr-40 should be used for important correspondence.

- Erasure of any entry once made is strictly forbidden.

- Case-mark system: Under this system the whole of the office correspondence is divided into several main divisions, each dealing with a separate subject and to each of these divisions is assigned a letter of the alphabet.

- Case should be arranged in the almirah in numerical order, and there should be one alphabetical list which should be typed, pasted to a cardboard and placed near every assistants chair in a convenient position.

- An index register will be opened showing all case-marks and the titles of cases to which each case-mark has been allotted.

- A despatch register in Form Corr.-10 should be maintained.

-The collectors of customs may issue service money orders for refunding customs duty levied on inward foreign postal articles.

-No commission is chargeable on service money orders.

-Top Secret papers must invariably be sent by insured post and Secret and Confidential papers by registered post acknowledgement due. These papers may be sent by Speed Post in case of emergency.

-Alphabetical List of Post Offices is published in September of each year.

-The Postal Guide is published in September of each year

-Departmental Identity Cards Form MS-95.

-The normal life of a card will be four years, but Identity Cards need not be renewed every four years, if the card is in satisfactory condition and the photograph is not faded.

-Postal Peons will include Packers, letter box Peons, Mail peons and Runners

-R.M. S. Peons will include Van Peons and Porters.

-Hill Stations: 3 sets of warm uniforms every four years and one set of polyester cotton uniforms every four years.

-Kit books should be supplied to each uniform wearing staff individually.

Umbrellas will be supplied

-each Village Postman will be supplied with an umbrella

-Places where the normal rainfall for any four consecutive months during a year is 30 inches or over

-Places where the average of the maximum temperature during two months of summer is 90° F. or over

-Umbrellas will be supplied to the eligible postal employees once every two years

-Instead of umbrellas, waterproof capes or, at the discretion of Heads of Circles, coats with hoods or caps will be Supplied.

-All officials supplied with uniforms will be supplied with a red plastic badge round in shape with a diameter of 3 inches.

-Resoling charges for shoes upto maximum of Rs. 20/- per pair will also be paid to the outdoor duty staff (This will be paid once in the life of three years)

-Gum Boots: GDS Staff performing outdoor duties in areas of marshy and swampy nature or areas infested by poisonous reptiles. The periodicity will be once in 6 years.

-The supply of warm overcoats will be made once in four years in hills and once in six years in the plains.

BUDGET ESTIMATES AND CONTROL

-The preliminary schedule of demands will be prepared in the Office of the Director General.

-Preliminary estimates of revenue and receipts for the current and next years based on the approximate actual for seven months of the current year, will be received from the office of the Postal Accounts on 30^th November.

-The revenue portion of this estimate is prepared by the Postal Accounts and communicated to the Director-General.

-The minimum amount of lapse or extra requirement to be reported to the Director-General is fixed at Rs. 100.

-For the purpose of appropriation audit the Director-General is required to furnish the Postal Accounts, in Form Bgt. 22 by the 7^th April each year.

-Major Head 3201—Postal Services

-Major Head 5201---Capital Outlay on Postal Services

-Major Head 1201—Postal Receipts

-The schedule of contingencies in Form A.C.E.-52A

-RCE: Reliability of Cost Estimates

-EFC: Expenditure Finance Committee

Important Points on Volume -II

- A detailed record of all losses of stock and stores should be maintained and an annual statement submitted to the- Audit office.

- Invoice of articles returned to the Depot (Form S.K.-3) should be prepared in-triplicate.

- Indent of stationery of form SK11 (articles of stationery) prepared in-Duplicate.

- HOC can institute civil suits obtaining permission from the- DG.

- HOC can institute civil suits without obtaining permission from the DG- security bonds of employees, MO,SB transactions, insured articles(upto 500Rs.) & land or buildings (upto 250/-)

- Offences under section 52 post office act: theft, dishonest misappropriation, secretion, destruction, or throwing away of postal articles.

- An offence under section 52 of the Post Office Act can be tried only by a Court of Sessions, and can be enquired into only by the Magistrate

- A criminal prosecution in a non-cognizable case should not be started without the previous sanction of the- HOC

- Criminal proceedings against an officer appointed by the DG or higher authority should not be instituted- without the sanction of the DG

- Required to give security and the amount of security- Rule 191 of P & T Manual –ii

- A numerical inventory- cost of articles is less than Rs.25/-.

- Supplies of forms by the PSD will be accompanied by- two copies of the invoice

- Invoices of articles returned to the PSD- triplicate

- Fixed stationery charges for Post Offices- Rules 341-A- 341-B

- The scale for FSC should be applied to Head and Sub Post Offices, subject to a Minimum- 1/-Rs.

- The scale for FSC rates increases above 25% orders of the- DG are necessary

- Every record officer must keep a stationery register- SK-8

- Indents (Record officer) for stationery generally submitted- half-yearly(February and August)

- Stationery rate list- SK-9(by supdt)

- Sorting- case labels in Form- SK- 12(15^th of each month)

- Hand-bags- supplied to - Sorting Assistants, Mail guards and Van-peons

- Hand-bags replaced- after use for not less than 3 years (18 months in case of bags made of old canvas)

-Supplying agency- SK 85

- Register of bonds-Form Sec. 19

- Every record officer must keep a stationery register in form SK-8 and balance will be forward –To the next month.

- Following officers are authorized to sign & verify plaints and written statement in civil suit – All gazette officers of department, conversant with facts.

- If Disciplinary authority lower in rank than appointing authority of accused government employee, when ad-hoc disciplinary authority appointed by –Directorate.

- Joint Building—Used by more than one branches of P &T Department.

- Any property of department should ordinarily be sold through the –Revenue board

- Permanent Department building & land book of value not exceed 1 Lakh may be sold under sanction of HOC.

-Normal acceptance of proposal for building work by the department is called—Administrative Control.

-Building projects beyond director generals’ power of sanction will be submitted to Ministry of finance for approval before expenditure sanction is accorded.

-When building constructed by the railways for department of post is no longer required 3 Months notice of vacation should be given to the railway concerned.

-Inspection room in a post office may, if necessary be provided with the previous sanction of the DG.