POSTAL MANUAL VOLUME V
POST OFFICE AND RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE GENERAL REGULATIONS
| CONTENTS | |
| CHAPTER NO. | SUBJECT |
| 1. | Definitions |
| 2. | Miscellaneous Rules |
| 3. | Investigations |
| 4. | Transmission of mails under the weighment system |
| APPENDIX-I | Rules relating to treatment of Naval Mails by Post |
| and RMS Offices | |
| APPENDIX-II | Issue of Due Mail and Sorting Lists and Conventions |
| ANNEXURE-A | Period of Preservation of Records |
CONTENTS OF CHAPTER I
Definitions RULE
11-B. Kendriya Bag Unit (KBU)
15.C. Press Sorting Offices
CHAPTER I
Definitions
NOTE- The abbreviation RMS is used for Railway Mail Service.
3. Deleted.
5-A, V-SAT Stations.-Important Head Post Offices are identified as Very Small Aperture Terminal Stations. From these Post Offices, money orders are transmitted using V-SAT technology.
5-B. Extended Satellite Money Order (ESMO).- These stations are working as extension counters for booking and transmission of money orders through V-SAT stations.
5-C. Hybrid Mail Service.-This involves electronic transmission of written material from one place to another using computer terminals connected through VSAT which can be delivered to one or more than one addressee at the receiving station.
(2) A sub-office situated in a town or its suburbs where there is also a Head Office is termed a town sub-office.
8. Branch Office. - (1) A Brach Office is a Post Office of lower status than a sub-office. It is in direct account with a Head or sub-office which is termed its accounts office and its monetary transactions are in-corporated in the accounts of the latter office. The Office in -charge of a Branch Office is designated as Branch Postmaster.
(2) A Branch Office situated in a town or its suburbs where there is also a Head Office is termed as town branch office.
9-A. Transit Office.- Any Post Office which is situated on a line of through mail communication, and receives and sorts bags intended for offices in advance, without opening them, is a transit office. The bags which are thus forwarded onwards unopened are termed forward bags. The transit bags addressed to a transit office are opened there, and the forward bags contained in them are sent onwards, either loose or enclosed in other transit bags. The use of a transit office is to reduce the number of loose bags.
9-B. Transit Mail Office.-A branch of RMS where closed bags are received and dispatched, sorting of letters is not done in this unit. Mail Agent or Mail Guard is in charge of this unit. This can function in number of sets depending upon requirements.
E.g. Bangalore City TMO Set No. 1 – 06.00 to 14.00 Bangalore City TMO II – 14.00 to 21.40
If TMO is functioning in the night set, the set works throughout the night. One batch of officials who are working on a particular night will not work in the following night. Another batch of Officials will work in the following night. Both these batches will alternatively work.
9-C. Computerized Transit Mail Office.-In certain cities, computers have been provided to handled the work of the Transit Mail Office. These Offices are called Computerized TMOs.
10. Sorting Office.-An office charged with the duty of opening the sorting mail bags received by its and disposing of their contents is termed as Sorting Office. A Sorting Office may receive articles of all kinds in sorting. The use of a Sorting Office is (a) to simplify the work of sorting in other offices, (b) to reduce the number of bags exchanged between Post Offices, and (c) to reduce the weight of mails carried on mails lines.
10-A. Automatic Mail Processing Centres. -In important cities where mail traffic is high, sorting machine have been provided which have high speed of sorting. At present, these machines are functioning in Mumbai and Chennai.
10-B. Computerized Registration Centres.-The Registration Branch of the Mail Office, where the processing of registration work is done on computers, is called Computerized Registration Sorting Centre (CRC). A CRC can be situated in the Mail Office itself or in a separate location.
11. Sorting sub-office – A sorting sub-office is a sub-office which is selected from its position at or near the junction of several mail lines, to serve as a Sorting Office for articles addressed to, or received from, offices to which the route lies through the sorting sub-office. It is authorized to receive articles of all kinds in sorting.
11-A. Nodal Post Office -In important cities and towns, some Post Offices are authorized to receive letters from neighboring Post Offices and sort the mail as per the sorting diagram given by the RMS Superintendents. This is to reduce the peak hour pressure in the local sorting offices. Such offices are identified as Nodal Post Offices.
11-B. Central Bagging Unit/ Kendriya Bagging Unit. -This Unit is a branch of RMS Office. Here the bundles prepared by the Post Offices/ Mail Offices grouped and enclosed in a direct bag. For instance, if there are 80 :Post Offices in a city and each Post Office is preparing 20 bundles for 20 Post Offices/ Districts/Circles/Mail Offic es, all these bundles will reach Central Bagging Unit/KBU in ‘L’ Bag/’R’ Bag. KBU/CBU will open the ‘L’/’R’ bags, group the bundles with reference to the destination, i.e. Circles-wise or District-wise or PO-wise or Mail Office-wise and include them in respective bags for the PO/Sorting Office concerned for delivery/further transmission, as the case may be.
12. Returned Letter Office.-A Returned Letter Office is established at the Headquarters of a Postal Circle and deals with unclaimed and refused articles and articles without addresses or with undecipherable or incomplete addresses.
NOTE- The abbreviation RLO is used for Returned Letter Office.
12-A. Transcription Centre.-A transcription center is a cell established in a Sorting Office, situated normally at the Headquarters of the Circle or at any other convenient Sorting Office in the Circle. Transcription center transcribes into English the addresses written in regional languages on postal articles posted in Post or Mail Offices.
13. Off ice of Exchange, Offices of exchange of transit bags, Foreign Post Offices and Sub-Foreign Post Offices.-(a) A Post Office or Sorting Office or Section which exchanges mails with offices in foreign countries is known as an “Office of Exchange”. It is referred to as the dispatching office of exchange in respect of mails it makes up and addresses to an office of exchange in another country, while it is called the receiving office of exchange in respect of mails addressed to it by an office of exchange f rom another country. The term “outward office of exchange” and “inward office of exchange” are also used to describe them. Even offices functioning as both inward and outward offices of exchange may function in one of the capacities only for certain countries.
(b) An Office of Exchange on the border which only receives and dispatches closed bags addressed to or received from other offices of exchange in India is known as an “Office of Exchange of transit”. Such an office will not close bags for foreign countries or open inward foreign bags. Its function is only to exchange mails with the carrier or with the officials of a foreign administration.
( c) A “Foreign Post Office” is an office of exchange in which the work of assessment of customs duty on foreign mails is also carried out. Although mails may be intercepted (and articles not suspected to contain anything dutiable released) in many exchange offices, the work of actual assessment of duty (and opening of articles for this purpose where necess ary) is done only in the Foreign Post Offices. Articles received in one office of exchange and suspected to contain dutiable goods, for delivery from an office nearer another office of exchange are directed to the latter for actual examination and assessment of duty.
(d) A “Sub-Foreign Post Office” is an office which is not an exchange office (i.e., which does not close bags for other countries and which does not receive from foreign countries bags addressed it) but in which the work of customs examination, assessment and accounting of customs duty is carried out. Such sub-Foreign Post Offices are opened mainly for the convenience of senders and addressees who may be required to present documents, etc., for the release or dispatch of their foreign articles.
15-A. Corporate Mail Office or Bulk Mail Centre (CMO/BMO).Consequent on the increase of corporate mail, RMS units, viz., Corporate Mail Offices/Bulk Mail Centres are opened in big cities. Each bulk Mailer, i.e., a firm which is capable of posting of 5000 unregistered articles/250 registered articles at a time is identified a bulk mailer. These bulk mailers are supplied with customized sorting list. Bundles are prepared by the bulk mailers as per the customized sorting list. The details of bundles prepared are entered in one invoice which is prepared in duplicate and brought to Bulk Mail Centre. The officer in-charge of the center verifies bundles received from each bulk mailers with reference to invoice received and group them destination-wise for further despatch.
15-B. Mass mailing Centre (MMC).-In order to help the customers who are regularly posting maximum number of letters, Department of Posts started assistance centres which are called Mass Mailing Centres in bigger cities. The responsibility of this Centre is to receive the loose letters, circulars and blank envelopes separately from the customers and help them in writing the addresses, enclose the circulars/letters inside the envelopes and if necessary, affixing the postage stamps/franking the mail. For this purpose, Mass Mailing Centre may engage the assistance of college students, house-wives, pensioners, etc., on payment of some amount on hourly basis. To meet this expenditure, the customers will have to pay extra in addition to the postage as decided by the Department from time to time.
15-C. Press Sorting Office (PSO).-This sorting office is situated on the premises of the Newspaper. The entire expenditure towards wages for the establishment is borne by the Newspaper publisher apart from providing required stationery for working the sorting office. This office works to suit t he dispatch timing of the newspaper and closes direct letter bags to the Post Offices/sorting offices concerned which are dispatched through local regular sorting offices.
NOTE- Mail offices located at Railway Stations are designated by the names of the stations followed by the letters RMS while those not so located are designated sorting offices, e.g., Delhi RMS Hindustan Times Press Sorting Offices.
18-A. Bag Office.-For avoiding unnecessary movement of bags, the new system of bag accounting has been introduced classifying PO/RMS Office into Bag Office: the office handling it as under:
NOTE-Wherever the terms “Record Office’ and “Record Officer” are used, they include Head and Sub-Record Offices and Head and Sub-Record Clerks, respectively, unless there is anything to the contrary in the extent.
21-A. Set of Section.-The establishment of RMS Sorting Assistants which works together throughout the beat of the same section in both directions is termed a set of that particular section. Sets are numbered serially and are designated by their serial numbers preceded by the name of the section. Thus A-26/Set No. 4 denotes the fourth set of A-26 Section. Each set of the same section has the same working hours, same number of officials and the same mail exchange arrangement. The number of set of a section are determined on the basis of weekly working hours.
21-B. Set of a Mail Office.-The establishment of RMS Sortin g Assistants which is on duty at the same time in Mail Office is termed a set. The sets of Mail Offices are numbered in a consecutive series, Set No. 1 commencing at or immediately after zero hours. Thus, Nagpur RMS/1 denotes the first set of Nagpur RMS working in the morning.
Unlike the sets of a section, each set of a Mail Office has different working hours, different mail and sorting pattern. The strength may also vary depending upon the volume of work.
In the case of the sets of a Mail Office working on alternate nights with the same number of officials and the same mail and sorting pattern, the words ‘Batch A’ and ‘Batch B’ shall be used in addition to the usual consecutive number. Thus:
Nagpur RMS/Set No. 3 Batch ‘A’ Nagpur RMS/Set No. 3 Batch ‘B’
The batches ‘A’ and ‘B’ will be working on alternate night.
NOTE- Suffixes like “Parcel’, “PSO”, “Regd. Packet”, “TMO”, etc., may be used to denote the Sorting Offices with particular functions and separate serials may be used for numbe ring Sets of such Sorting Offices as “Chennai Sorting Parcel Set 2”, “Bangalore City TMO Set 1” and “Bangalore City TMO Set 2”.
(2) Labelled bundle s are of two classes, viz., station bundles and sorting bundles:
Pre-sorted bundles.-These are received from the customers as well as from Post Offices. These should not be opened if they are station bundles and can be opened and sorted, only if they are sorting bundles.
25. Check-slip. -A check-slip is a label tied to the top of the labeled bundle: the from is printed on paper of different colours, pink for ordinary paid and unpaid bundles, white or ordinary sorting bundles and blue with the words “Air Mail” for foreign air mail bundles. The white check-slip is used for both express and deferred bundles, the slip being marked on the face with 2 diagonal lines in blue pencil, for express bundle. The slip being marked on the face with 2diagonal lines in green colour for local articles, yellow strip in corner for Rajdhani and blue strip in corner for Metro bundles. Every check-slip bears the name and date stamps of the office which prepares the bundle, the name of the office to which it is addressed and signature in-full of the officer by whom it is made up. In case of a territorial bundle, it also shows the name of the State, Territory, etc., to which the articles in the bundle are addressed as well as the office by which it is to be opened, thus:
(Delhi Air Sorting)
Check-slips are designated to fix responsibility for the mis-sending of any article wrongly included in a labeled bundle.
25-A. Money Order Check-slip. -A check-slip (M.O. 70) printed in red ink on white or Badami paper is prescribed for use in preparing money orders bundles for dispatch to destination. The number of money orders included in the bundle is required to noted on this check-slip.
26. Mail bags.- (1) A mail bag is a bag containing unregistered and registered articles of the letter mail, viz., letters, postcards, and book and pattern packets: and also unregistered parcels, the registered articles being enclosed in a registered bag: but when a registered packet bag is prescribed, heavy registered packets, are dispatched inside the registered packet bag and not inside the mail bag. When parcel bags are not prescribed, mail bags may also contain articles of the parcel mail. A mail bag exchanged between a Branch office and a Post Office other than its accounts office, mail office or section, with which it is in direct communication contains all fully prepaid articles except V.P. and insured articles and those on which customs duty is to be realized. There are three kinds of mail bags, viz., station mail bags, sorting mail bags and combined mail bags, Mail Bags are due bags.
(2) Mail bags exchanged between a cash office and the sub-office which it finances will also contain inside the registered bag, a cash bag. These mail bags are denoted in the due mail lists of the cash office, of the sub-office and of the offices through which they transit by a distinguishing symbol “F”.
NOTE – In any case in which the Head of the Circle or the Heads of the Circles concerned consider it advantageous that the Registered bag should not be sent inside the mail bag, the Registered bag may be forwarded outside. All bags including those in the nature of ‘L’ bags should invariably be sealed. The arrangement will be clearly indicated in the Due Mail and Routing List.
26-A. Airmail bag.-A mail bag containing unregistered and registered articles to be carried by any air service under the All Up Scheme is called an airmail bag. The bag should not contain articles not intended to be carried by air. A blue dosuti bag should ordinarily be used for closing an airmail bag.
NOTE 1.-If on any occasion there is no article for dispatch in a particular air mail bag, a bag with ‘nil’ contents need not be closed, but a suitable entry should be made in the delivery bill that no bag has been closed as there was no content.
If the number of articles to be dispatched is less than fifty and there is also no insured article or air parcel for dispatch in an airmail bag, an airmail cover of suitable size should be used instead of a bag.
NOTE 2- When an air parcel is sent inside an airmail bag, the label of the bag should bear the superscription “C.A.P” to indicate that it contains air parcel.
NOTE 3.-Registered articles should not be enclosed in a bag unless their number exceeds 25 or they are bulky or there are insured articles for dispatch. But they should be bundled and tied up crosswise along with the registered list, with a suitable check-slip prominently marked ‘REGISTERED’ and the bundle should be sealed with the registration seal on the knot which should come on the check-slip. This bundle is to be tied lengthwise and breadth wise to ensure that no article gets loose and mixed up with unregistered articles. This bundle may then be placed in the air mail cover of bag. Whenever registere d bags are used in enclosing registered articles for dispatch inside air mail bags, normal rules for closing registered bags should be followed. Whenever a bag is used for enclosing registered articles not exceeding 25 due to their bulk and unusual size, a remark should invariably be passed on the registered list to that effect.
NOTE 4.-The weight of an air mail bag or air TB should not exceed 30 kg.
27. Registered bundle.-(1) A registered bundle is a collection of faced, uninsured registered articles of the letter mail placed, together with a registered list, in a prescribed form of envelope, carefully gummed and sealed, or if necessary, in a dosuti bag, tied and sealed in the ordinary way, with the label showing distinctly that it is a “registered bundle” and not a ‘registered bag’. Registered bundles are not due, but are made up, ordinary, when the number of registered articles to be enclosed exceeds two; they are treated in sorting as single registered articles.
27-A. Registered bundles from customers.-The customers booking their articles in bulk prepare station and TB bundles in the same manner as discussed above and present them at the sorting office.
28. Registered bag.- (1) A registered bag contains cash bag, ordinary and V.P. registered letters and packets, insured envelopes, registered bundles, insured bundles, ordinary and V.P. money order bundles tied with a check-slip, and a registered list.
NOTE – The registered bag inside a mail bag indicated by symbol ‘P’ in the
D.M. list w ill also contain a cash bag.
28-A. Speed Post Bag. -This bag contains Speed Post articles, Speed Post Money orders and a Speed Post list. In the Speed Post list, the number of articles and the office of booking in invariably written and totals are struck at the bottom.
(2) Packet bag.-Bags returned empty to UBO/DBO/CBO/PO or sacks containing such bags are treated as packet bags. Packet bags are not due bags and when dispatched they are treated as unusual mail.
on top. Special bags are not due bags, but when dispatched they are treated as unusual mails.
37-A. Camp bag. -A camp bag is used to enclose the office files and other official papers, and is closed by the Secretariat or Headquarters offices of the high officers mentioned in Clause 198 of Post Office Guide, Part-I, for the High Officer-in-Camp, and vice versa. Camp bags are not due bags, but when dispatched, they are treated as unusual mails.
38. Deleted.
44. Deleted.
44-A. Cage TB.-When a lot of bags are available at distant places, Cage TB facility is utilized. For instance, Chennai Central Station TMO has got 350 bags intended for the delivery at Howrah Station. If these bags are given to the Section leaving Chennai Central Section TMO, viz., TP-16-OUT, all these bags are required to be handled by TP-16-OUT and other intermediary sections, viz., V-10-IN, V-14OUT and N-2-IN. If the Cage TB facility is used, the Chennai Central Station TMO can load all the bags in a partition in the Mail Van of the train (TP-16-OUT) and lock the partition so that TP -16-OUT and other intervening sections need not handle these bags. This partition which is locked sealed and labeled by Chennai Central Station TMO can be opened only by the Mail Agent at Howrah Station TMO after N-2-IN reaches Howrah Station. Cage TB facility avoids unnecessary handling of bags by intermediate sections.
NOTE – The letter ‘T’ will be prefixed to the letter ‘B’ in the case of ‘B’ orders issued in connection with the disposal of camp articles and camp bags for high officials on tour.
48. Deleted..
49. Work-papers.-The expression work-papers means the documents received and dispatched by a set of a Transit Section or Mail Office as well as abstracts and other documents prepared by it while at work.
52-A, Due Mail and Sorting List.-The due mail list shows the details of bags to be received and dispatched by a Mail Office/ Transit Section. It will show (a) in what cases mail lists are to be dispatched and received with loose bags (b) transit bags are to be used (c) account bags and B.O. bags are to be sent or received in mail bags,
(d) in the case of sub-office, the mail bags containing cash bags enclosed in registered bags.
The sorting list will show (a) for what offices, mail bags and registered bags are to be made up (b) to what offices parcel mail articles may be sent direct and the manner in which they must be dispatched.
56-A. Late letters and too late letters.-Late letters are letters presented at the window of a Post Office or Mail Office or posted in the letter box of a Mail Office after the prescribed hour of closing the mail but within the interval allowed for posting of such letters with the prescribed late fee affixed in addition to the postage.
“Too late” letters are those posted within such interval but without having been fully prepaid with postage and late fee. These are stamped “Detained late fee not paid” and detained till the next dispatch.
57. Mis-sent and mis-directed articles.-A mis-sent article is an article which has been erroneously forwarded by an office to an office other than the office of destination or by a route other than the prescribed one. A mis -directed article is a vernacular article on which the incorrect destination has been written in English by the office of posting.
57-A. Trial cards.-Trial cards are service Post Cards [M 26 (a)] which are employed for the purpose of determining the relative advantage of alternative mail routes or the cause of detention to articles. A trial card contains on the back the following printed columns, viz., (1) Source of receipt (2) Remarks, misconnection, etc., (3) Manner of disposal, (4) Date stamp of the Office or Section, (5) Signature of Head Sorting Assistant/Postmaster/Supervisor. All these columns should be carefully filled in by the Head Sorting Assistant, the Postmaster or Supervisor of each office or section handling the card and on reaching the destination the Postmaster should also note the date and hour of the mail conveying the card and the date and hour of delivery of the card before the same is returned in a service cover to the officer by whom it was issued. The card should be forwarded by the route if any, marked therein and should not be included in any station bundle.
CONTENTS OF CHAPTER 2 MISCELLANEOUT RULES MAIL AND SORTING DEPARTMENTS RULE
58. Latest hours fixed for posting the mails
58.A. Posting of registered newspapers 58-B. Machine Franked Articles 58-C. Accounts with licensees of Franking Machines
19. Articles addressed “Camp”
CHAPTER 2
MISCELLANEOUS RULES
Mail and Sorting Departments
58. Latest hours fixed for posting the mails. -The la test hours of posting of mails at a Post Office or mail Office will be notified in connection with each dispatch in the notice of “latest hours of posting of mails” supplied to the office and the letter box should be finally cleared at this hour except for late letters posted in letter boxes attached to mail offices at stations at which a late fee is imposed, where the letter box should be again cleared on the expiry of the period allowed for the posting of such articles. In the case of night mails, the latest hours of posting will ordinarily be 6 p.m. and in the case of day mails, thirty minutes before the hour fixed for the closing of the mail at the Post Office. The hours of clearance of letter boxes placed at Railway stations where there are Mail Offices should, as far as possible, be fixed by Superintendents of RMS sometime after the hour fixed for clearance at the local Post Office. Mails which are to be forwarded by Railway should ordinarily reach the Railway station ten minutes before the arrival of the train by which they are to be sent.
58-A. Posting of registered newspapers.-(1) Newspapers registered by the Head of the Division/Sr. Postmaster under the IPO Rules, 1933, corrected from time to time can be posted in Post Office and RMS Office shown in the application for registration and accepted by the Head of the Division/Sr. Postmaster.
Licence No. Licenced to Post under Cash Payment system
Postage paid
Post payee
( c) that are handled in with a proper invoice as indicated in the next sub-
rule
4. (i) The copies of the newspapers will be handed over at the window along with an invoice in duplicate in the following from showing details of the posting. The original copy should be retained by the office of posting and the duplicate returned to the sender after it has been duly signed and date stamped. Before the duplicate copy is returned to the sender, the entries in the invoice should be properly checked with the articles posted and if there be any discrepancy, the office of posting should make the requisite corrections under the initials of the Head of the Office or any other officer duly another in this behalf.
The licensee is bound to accept such correction.
INVOICE FORM
Name of the paper with frequency of publications
| No. of single copies | Weight of a single Date posting copy | Postage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| due | |||
| No. of bundles with 2 | |||
| copies each | Weight per bundle | “ | |
| No. of single copies | Weight of a single Date posting copy | Postage | |
| due | |||
No. of bundles with 3 copies each Weight per bundle “
No. of bundles with 4 copies each Weight per bundle “
No. of bundles with 5 copies each Weight per bundle “
Total amount of postage
Signature of Manager Proprietor or Publisher of Registered Newspaper
Signature of
receiving
Postmaster
Dated…………………………
Stamp of the Office of Posting
(ii) The amount of postage due on all posting will be adjusted twice a month, i.e., on the 16th for postings between the first and the 15th of the month, and 1st of the following month, in respect of the postings from the 16th to the end of the month.
The office of posting should prepare fortnightly a bill in Form M.S. 98 for the posting during the periods shown in conditions (3) above showing the total amount of postage payable for each day as shown in the invoices and present the bill to the licensee on the 16th and 1st of each month, a copy of the bill being forwarded at the same time to the Had Office and the Post Office where the bill in to be paid where necessary, and to the Audit Office to enable them to watch the credit. The payment of the bill will have to be effected by the Licensee, within seven days from the date of its presentation at the Post Office indicated in the bill. The Post Office should keep a close watch on the receipt of the amount within this period and in case of no0npayment, report the matter at once to
the Head of the Circle. A Post Office receiving a copy of the bill from an RMS Office for realization of the amount of the bill should intimate the date of recovery of the amount to the RMS office concerned on the date the payment of the bill is received. In case of non-payment within the stipulated time, this fact should be intimated to the RMS Office immediately. The amount should be created in the schedule of ‘unclassified receipts’. The monthly statement in the Form M.S. 99 should be sent by the office of posting if it is a sub-office to its Head Office, and to the Audit Office on the 1st of every month.
(iii) In the event of non-payment of a bill within a fortnight following the fortnight to which the bill relates, the posting of the paper without prepayment of postage should immediately be stopped, and the licence deemed to have been cancelled.
58.B. Machine-Franked Artic les.-(i) Postage on postal articles (both official and private) ay, under a licence issued by the Head of the Circle, be paid by means of impressions of franking machines, which will be of a bright red colour and be made as far as possible on the right -hand top corner of the address side of the postal article itself or an address wrapper or an address label firmly attached to it. The franks recorded by each machine will bear an impression or impressions showing the amount of postage with the number of the machine in the center, as in the specimens given below:
Seal P 5 P
Seal U 5
The illustrations are not exhaustive and licensees may arrange with the agents of the franking machines for any denominations. The number in the center denoting the number of frank there is a date-stamp impression showing the name of the office of posting, the date, as well as the identification mark of the licensee and the licence No. preceded by the index letter of the circle.
(ii) Machine franked articles can be posted at not more than two offices specified by the Head of the Division in the license. Where only one office of posting is desired, these must be handed in by a representative of the licensee at the counter of either the Post Office or the Mail Office or the night Post Office. Where the licensee desires to post them at two offices, they may be handed either at a Post Office and a Mail Office or at a Post Office and a night Post Office, or at a Mail Office and a night Post Office.
(iii) The franked articles will be tendered at the counter bundled in separate bundles according to the value of the franks and each consignment must be accompanied by a Window Delivery Ticket for identification of the licensee’s representative. The Postmaster of the office of posting is responsible for seeing that the articles have been franked in the prescribed manner and that systematic underpayment is not going on.
(vii) In places where the authorized dealers have their own servicing centers with qualified and experienced staff, the repairs and servicing will be carried out at those centers in the presence of the postal officials deputed there for the purpose. In other places, the machines will be sent to the Post Office where the Daily Docket Register is maintained. The Post Office will remove the license die from the machine which will then be sent for repair, etc.
In all cases, the re-setting of he credit metres of the machines will be done at the Post Office.
(viii) Cut-out labels with frank impression on them for prepayment of postage can be used on all postal articles except articles of the insured mail subject to the following conditions:
(ix) An advertisement may also appear alongside the date impression, provided that:
The licensee can get approval from the Head of the Postal Division for as many slogans and advertisements as he may desire, provided not more than one slogan or advertisement is used on the article. No change in the tenor of the advertisement shall be made,, once it is approved, with-out similar prior approval of the Head of the Postal Division concerned.
(x) The Head of the Postal Division, as and when notified by the licensee in the change of address or the location of the franking machine, will intimate this change to the Divisional Superintendent, etc., concerned.
58-C. Accounts with licensees of franking machines.-(1) An account will be maintained in the prescribed record book in duplicate with each licensee of
franking machine and payments will be made by him on account of postage, in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Rule 185 of the Posts and Telegraphs Financial Handbook, Volume-I.
(2) The invisible metre of the franking machine will be set to the figure representing the initial payments made by the licensee, by the suppliers under the supervision of an official of the local Post Office and be sealed with a Post Office seal. The machines will be brought to Post Office for resetting the metre. AT the time of resetting, the original seal in the machine must be broken and after resetting, a fresh seal should be affixed. The amount paid and particulars should be entered in the copies of the record book kept by the licensee and the Post Office, as prescribed in the Financial Handbook referred to in the preceding paragraph. An account should be prepared in Form M.S. 10 which, after the Accountant has signed the certificate, should be placed in the separate files for each machine. The licensee’s and the Post Office copy should be authenticated by the Postmaster.
Payment other than by cheque should be discouraged. If payment made in cash, the official resetting the machine will obtain the signature of a responsible officer of the firm bringing the machine for resetting in the ‘Remarks’ column of the Post Office when crediting the amount in the accounts of the Post Office will see that this had been done.
It is further prescribed that a postal official other than the one who rest the machine should carry out a random inspection of the franking machines, and see that metre reading found on that day are in order as compared with those noted in the Daily Docket submitted by the licensee. He will also note in the metre books, the metre readings as found by him, and report to the Postmaster immediately in the event of any irregularity being noticed.
NOTE 1. -The Post Office seal for sealing franking machines must be kept by the Postmaster in his personal custody except in the General Post Office at Mumbai and Kolkata where it should be kept by the Dy. Director. It should be handed over under receipt to the official deputed for resetting the machines and this official will be held personally responsible for its safe custody under lock and key when not in use by him personally and until it is returned to the Postmaster.
Note 2.-The pliers for the lead seal which are used for preventing the unauthorized removal of the bottom will be in the custody of the agents for the supply of the franking machines. The impressions made by the pliers on the lead seals should be examined by the Postmaster or in the case of GPO at Mumbai and Kolkata by the Dy. Director to see whether they are clear and distinct.
59. Clearance of letter-boxes.- (1) The letter-box of a Post Office or Mail Office should be opened and cleared by the postal or Sorting Assistant, as the case may be, at convenient intervals during the day, so as to expedite the preparation of the mail for dispatch. The key of the letter-box must remain in the custody of that official during working hours.
(2) Deleted.
60. Clearance of letter-boxes at Railway stations.-(1) Letters posted without late fees in letter-boxes at railway stations at which mail office are not established should, whenever practicable, be cleared by the Mail Peon and handed over to the Transit Section. The following procedure should, however, be observed:
NOTE.- At places where letter-boxes are not cleared by Mail Peons who attend the Railway Stations for the exchange of mails, they are forbidden from accepting any loose letters from any member of the public. Heads of Circles may however, use their own discretion in regulating acceptance of articles by Mail Peon or other officials deputed to exchange mails where local conditions demand it, keeping in view principles underlying the rules on the subject.
(2) The keys and the changeable hour-plates of the letter-boxes concerned must be kept by the Sorting-Postal Assistant during working hours, but should be temporarily entrusted to the Mail Peon or other official appointed for the purpose of clearing the boxes. In RMS, the key should be in the cus tody of the Sorting Assistant concerned.
60-A. Separation of articles taken from letter-boxes.- (1) The articles taken from letteer0-boxes should be placed on a table, examined and divided into 1st Class and 2nd Class mails. The former should include articles (both inland and foreign) intended to be forwarded by surface as well as by air routes, and the latter should include articles (both inland and foreign) intended to be forwarded by surface as well as by air route. The above classes of mails should then be separated into:
--fully prepaid letters (including postcards, letter cards, air letters and articles to which fee air transmission is given);
--fully prepaid packets, i.e., newspapers and book and pattern packets;
--letters which appear to be insufficiently paid, unpaid letters, and postcards and inland letter cards on which postage is chargeable owing to infringement of conditions;
--Inland postcards and inland letter cards of private manufacture on which postage is either not prepared or not conforming to the prescribed size;
--packets, i.e., newspapers and book and pattern packets which appear to be unpaid or insufficiently paid or on which postage is chargeable owing to infringement of conditions.
Second class mails (packets, newspapers and book and pattern packets) are further divided into air mail articles, i.e., articles intended to be forwarded by an air route and articles intended to be forwarded by ordinary route.
The unpaid articles and those that appear to be insufficiently paid should, if necessary, be weighed for the purpose of ascertaining the postage due; unpaid or insufficiently prepaid articles for foreign countries should be disposed of as laid down in Rules 110-A, 111 and 111-A. Contents of book packets (air -surcharged and ordinary) would be carefully scrutinized with a view to see whether they fulfil the conditions for transmission (by air or by surface route, as the case may be) at book packet rates.
The result of the security should be noted daily by the assistant concerned in the error book, and the entry should be certified by the Officer in charge of the branch. Supervising Officers should satisfy themselves at each inspection by an examination of the Error Book that the work is being done regularly.
NOTE.-Unpaid and insufficiently paid articles addressed to troops should not be sent to Army Post Offices but should be detained and disposed of as undeliverable articles and where necessary through their RLOs.
(4) Deleted.
60-B. Stamping and removal to sorting cases.-Articles cleared from LBs are examined to see whether they are fulfilling the conditions for posting; fully prepaid or not. If there are any variation, action is taken to tax the articles as per the orders.
postage at letter or parcel rates, whichever may be less, according to the rules and then disposed of in the same manner as other packets.
(4) Any violation, is dealt with, as per instructions.
EXCEPTIIONS-A packet containing samples of glass, liquid oils, fatty substances, dry powers, or lice bees, which is not packed in the manner prescribed in the IPO Rules should be dealt with in accordance with the procedure prescribed for the treatment of injurious articles.
64. Treatment of articles addressed to foreign countries.-In all offices and sections, articles addressed to foreign countries should be treated in the same way as inland articles, except that in no case should postage, be taxed on them; the duty of taxing postage rests entirely with the offices of foreign exchange.
EXCEPTION.- See however Rule 110-A.
65. Deleted.
66. Articles with undecipherable or incomplete address. -(1) Articles fond in the course of sorting with destinations that are illegible or imperfect or written in an unknown character, or without envelopes or wrappers so that the destination cannot be ascertained, should be placed in the compartment of the sorting case labeled “Undecipherable”. When the sorting is competed, these articles should be examined and every endeavour should be made to decipher the addresses; if necessary, the assistance of other Assistants or Sorting Assistants should be obtained or the List of Indian Post Offices should be consulted.
(2) If the destinations can be ascertained, the names of the post-towns should be written clearly on the articles by the Sorting Assistant and they should then be disposed of in the usual course. Articles, the covers of which are so overlaid with writing or with postmarks as to leave no room for the clear entry of destination should be forwarded to the Postmaster of the office of destination in an ordinary correspondence envelope. If the destinations cannot be ascertained, the articl3es, after having been shown to the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant, as the case may be should if they are nto fully prepared be closed in an ordinary correspondence envelope addressed to the R.L.O. and marked “Undecipherable” in the upper left-hand corner. This envelope should then be sorted for the Post Office which serves the
R.L.O. Articles found in the office of posting or in the course of sorting wit hout the addressee’s name or post-town of destination and the articles which are fully paid but destinations of which cannot be ascertained should be returned to the sender, if his name and address appear on the outside; in all other cases, such articles should be sent to the R.L.O. in the same way as those with undecipherable or incomplete addresses. The Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant should satisfy himself that the action proposed to the taken by the Sorting Assistant is correct. He should impress on he latter that it is preferable to send articles, the destinations of which are doubtful, to the
R.L.O than to forward them to Post Offices merely on the change of their reaching the addresses. When necessary, a small bag should be used instead of envelope. In such cases, a label should be pasted to the bag addressed to the R.L.O. and marked “Undecipherable” in the upper left-hand corner.
EXCEPTION 1. -This rule does not apply to correspondence addressed “Camp” (or other prescribed address with no post-town) for certain high officers on tour, the disposal of which is governed by the special rules on the subject. When articles of any kind addressed “Camp” or “Camp Post Office” are received by an office or section which has not been specially instructed how to dispose them of, they should be sent to the office or section working towards the camp if authentic information is available regarding the movements of the “Camp”: or “Camp Post Office”. If no such information is available, the articles should be forwarded to the first sorting office on the route to the headquarters station of the address, or direct to the headquarters station if no sorting office intervenes.
DEXCEPTION 2.-This rule does not also apply to correspondence for persons serving in any Indian Navy Ship and addressed merely to the Squadron, Fleet or Naval Station to which the ship attached or to the ship itself, without the addition of the name of a post town. Such articles should be disposed of in accordance with instructions in Appendix.
EXCEPTION 3. -A telegram bearing an incomplete or undecipherable address found in the course of sorting should be sent to the Post Office of the place where it was posted. When the office of posting cannot be determined owing to indistinct or illegible date stamp impression, the telegram should be sent to the R.L.O. for disposal.
(3) Articles received for delivery with addresses which cannot be easily read or are so incomplete that they cannot at once be distributed, should be put aside till the close of the distribution, and then every endeavour should be made to decipher or complete the addresses with the assistance, if necessary, of other staff and the Postmen. If the addresses cannot be deciphered or completed, the articles should be shown to the Postmaster who will decide whether they are to be transferred to the deposit department for transmission to the R.L.O. or to the sender.
67. Preparation of labeled bundles.-(1) A labeled bundle should not normally contain more than 50 to 60 letters and postcards. Large articles, such as newspapers and packets, should be separately bundled and, when such articles are to form a station bundle and cannot conveniently be tied together, the bundle with its check slip should be enclosed in a dosuti bag, to which should be tied a label, showing the name of the place for which the articles are intended.
EXCEPTION --Separate station or sorting bundles should be prepared for
(i) first class and surcharged second class articles and (ii) un-surcharged second class articles . The words ‘First Class’ and ‘Second-Class’, as the case3 may be, should invariably be written in blue pen on the check slip M-10 (a) of all station and sorting labelled bundles.
NOTE.- When drill bags are used for enclosing labeled bundles, the postal or Sorting Assistant by whom the mail list is prepared should be asked to note the number of such bags in words and figures, at the top of the list. Where a mail list is not prescribed, the Registration Assistant or Sorting Assistant should be asked to make this note at the top of registered list.
(2) Deleted.
68. Deleted.
69. Contents of a station mail bag for a head or sub-office.-A station mail bag for a head or sub-office may contain the following articles intended for delivery from the office itself as well as unpaid articles of the letter mail for delivery from branch offices in account with it:
(c ) and unregistered parcels.
It must always contain a registered bag. Station mail bags exchanged between a head Office and any of its sub-offices must also contain an account bag unless there is more than one dispatch daily to the sub or head office, in which case the account bag must be enclosed in one of the mail bags.
Station bundles;
Sorting bundles;
Registered articles including insured and V.P. parcel and mail articles entered in the parcel list; and unregistered parcels;
It must always contain a registered bag. It may also contain account bag.
NOTE 1.-This rule does not apply to sorting mail bags closed by a Post Office at the headquarters of a circle for the local R.L.O.
NOTE 2.-In case bag is routed through weighment system, the instructions contained in Clause 235 of Chapter IV should be followed
72. Contents of a combined mail bag.-A combined mail bag for a Post Office may contain all the articles mentioned in the preceding rules as forming the contents both of station and sorting mail bags. The registered bag to be enclosed in a combined mail bag will contain both station and sorting registered articles.
72-A. A bulk bag. -The system of ‘Bulk bag’ is available for dispatch/receipt of special bags of printed papers to/from addressee/senders in foreign countries except Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Pakistan. The salient features of the Bulk bag System are given below:
Printed papers for the same addressee at the same address may be enclosed in one or more special bags. The bags shall be so closed as to enable the Post Office to inspect the contents. Each bag shall weigh not less than 5 kgs and not more than 30 kgs. The bags shall be legibly addressed with rectangular labels not smaller than 125 x 60 mm. In size tied round the neck indicating the full name and address of the addressee and the weight of the bag including the contents. A similar label shall be provided by the sender of the items and shall be of canvas strong cardboard with an eyelet, strong thick plastic material or paper glued to wood. Bulk bags may be sent either as unregistered or registered. Registered bulk bags, however cannot be sent to Argentina, Cuba, Peru and the Philippines. Only on registered bulk bags, the bulk registration fee will be changed at the rate specially prescribed.
The application for the bulk bag facility should be made to the Head of the Circle through the Post Office where it is proposed to post such bags giving particulars of average amount per posting and frequency of such postings together with a general indication of the destinations. The Head of the Circle will decide regarding the amount of security deposit to be kept in the Post Office depending upon the approximate amount of postage payable in a month and the cost of one or more bags to be supplied t a single posting. The se nder of such bags will then deposit the amount in cash or in a Post Office Savings bank Security Deposit Account or in national Savings Certificate pledged to the
Head of the Circle or by a guarantee from the State Bank of India. After the security amount is deposited, the sender will be issued a licence and he will be authorized to post such bags. He will hand over the bags to the Post Office with an invoice in duplicate in the prescribed form, one copy of which will be returned to him after due verification. On the basis of such invoices relating to a month, a bill will be sent to him on the 10th of each succeeding month which he has to settle within seven days of the date of receipt. In the event of the non-payment of the bill as aforesaid, his licence shall be cancelled immediately and the amount due shall be recovered from his security deposit, and where necessary under Section 12 of the Indian Post Office Act, 1989. The licence, is revocable by the Head of the Circle by means of a seven day’s notice in writing with-out assigning any reason whatsoever. The licence though terminated may, however, be renewed by the Head of Circle under the terms and conditions which he may think proper to impose.
If any dispute arises regarding the licence, the matter shall be referred to the Director-General, Department of Posts, whose decision thereon shall be final.
Empty bags required for packing will be supplied by the Post Office authorized in this behalf. The postage payable on such bulk bags shall be at the rates as prescribed from time to time.
The total amount of charges collected on bulk bag is shown on the table outside the bag. Bags containing items to be submitted to Customs examination must compulsorily bear the green label C1 on the rectangular label tied round the neck of the bag.
When a bulk bag is received from a foreign country to an addressee in India, the Postmaster of the Post Office or Incharge of the Mail Office shall send an intimation in the prescribed form duty complete d. The addressee or any other person authorized on his behalf shall produce a receipt duly signed at the Post Office and accept the bulk bags. He shall undertake to return the empty postal bags used for packing the bulk bags within three days from the date of their receipt.
The Post Office may pay compensation in the event of a loss of a registered bulk bag upto a maximum limit prescribed from time to time. Indirect loss of profit will not be taken into account in calculating the amount the amount compensation.
For each bulk bag exceeding 500 grammes in weight, a Customs Clearance fee as prescribed in chargeable instead of a charge per item contained in the bag.
73. Preparation of mail bags for dispatch.-(1) A label bearing the name of the office of destination should be stamped and fastened to the cord with which each bag is to be tied, and then loosely attached to one of the rings of the bag. The bags with the labels attached should be placed in a convenient position near the sorting case, so that the contents of the several compartments may be readily transferred to them. When all the bags and articles to be enclosed in the mail bags have been placed in them, they should be closed and sealed with the date seal. If there are no articles to send in a mail bag, an empty mail bag duly closed and sealed, and containing a registered bag must be dispatched.
NOTE 1 .-In the case of sorting mail bag or a B.O. bag addressed to a Post Office by a Mail Office, the word “Sorting” or the words ‘B.O. bag”, the case may be should be written conspicuously on the address side of the tag label by Head Sorting Assistant.
NOTE 2.-In any case in which the due number of account and branch office bags is not enclosed in a mail bag, the Sorting Assistant or Head Sorting Assistant, as the case may be, should record on the registered list included in the mail bag a remark showing the cause of sort dispatch or non-despatch. In cases where registered lists are not exchanged, a memo, explaining such reasons should be enclosed in the mail bag.
NOTE 3.-When there are two or more dispatches prescribed daily between a Post Office and a set of a Mail Office or between Post Offices, or between sets of different mail offices, the dispatches should be numbered in a consecutive order and marked on the label of the mail bag as well on the label of the registered bag, and in the mail list, if any.
NOTE 4.- For giving of receipts, see Rule 64 of Postal Manual, Volume-VI (Pt. 1).
more bags in excess of the number entered in the due mail list, the words “Extra bag” should be written on the label of each additional mail bag and, in Post Offices, the Mail Assistant’s attention should be drawn to the circumstance. Extra bags should contain only unregistered articles, the registered bag being ordinarily placed in the usual due mail bag.
EXCEPTION.-When the weight of the registered bag to be included in the Air Mail bag exceeds the prescribed weight of 30kg, a separate registered bag containing only uninsured articles may be closed (for inclusion in the extra Air Mail bag). When this is done, an indication to the effect that the extra bag contains registered bag should be given on the due registered list enclosed in the due Air Mail bag.
76. Mail Lists.-(1) The due mail list will show in what causes mail lists are to accompany transit and other loose bags dispatched or received. As a general rule, mail lists should accompany transit and other loose bags only when the due mails to be received or dispatched comprise more than one bag; but when transit bags are made up, mail lists of their contents must always be prepared and placed inside.
76/1. Entry of forward mail lists in the mail lists for intervening offices and Transit Sections.-(1) When mails are forwarded by one office to another through one or more intervening Transit Sections or offices, the forward mail list should be entered in the mail list for the next intervening section or office under the head “:Due Mails” in the column for “Transit Bags” against entries of the names of the section or office of dispatch and that of destination and followed by an entry of the total number of forward bags invoiced in the forward mail list thus:
“J-3. Out (to) A-13. IN. 1 Mail List with 4 bags”
These entries should be similarly repeated by all the intervening sections or offices. The forward mail list should, in each case be included in the total of the due mails entered in the mail list for the intervening office or section.
Palam T.M.O. (to) Patna -1 Delivery bill with 3 bags.
The bags indicated in the forward delivery bills should not , however, be included in striking the total or in arriving at the total weight of bags indicated in the direct AV-7 prepared for the intermediary office.
(7) In the event of misconnection of the connecting air service, the forward delivery bills should be opened by the intervening airport sorting office at which the misconnection occurred, and the misconnected air mail bags dispo0sed of expeditiously. Such misconnected mails should be shown in the monthly statement “B” sent to C.A.O., I.A.C., New Delhi and DA (A/c) Section of the Postal Directorate, New Delhi, as laid down in Rule 32 of Air Mail Accounts Manual.
79. Deleted.
89. Water-proof bags.-(1) When the use of water-proof bags by a Post Office or for mails conveyed by boat or runners, during the rainy season, is ordered by the Superintendent, the Mail Assistant concerned will be responsible that such bags are used only during the period fixed. At the end of the rains, the bags should be kept in the office to which they were supplied, and not returned to the Stock Depot nor should they be used during the dry section except in wet weather.
(2) Water-proof bags are not supplied to the RMJS but if such bags are received by a Transit Section or Mail Office from a Post Office, they should be utilized for the dispatch of return mails to that office.
81. Immediate examination and verification of mails.-(1) The immediate examination of the mails received is the most important duty of the Mail Agent/Mail Guard. In Post Offices, the Mail Assistant and in sections and , in sections and mail offices, the Mail Agent or Guard or the Head Sorting Assistant or the Mail Sorting Assistant in sets in charge of a section guard Head Sorting Assistant, to whom the duty of receiving mails has been delegated must carefully and closely examine seal, cord, label and the condition of each bag and satisfy himself that the correct number of bags is received without any signs of damage or tampering. If a mail list accompanies a dispatch, the bags actually received should be compared with the entries in the mail list.
NOTE.-If any one of the bags shows signs of damage or tampering, the procedure prescribed in Rule 193 should be followed.
(2) If the Mail Assistant, the Mail Guard or Head Sorting Assistant or the Mail Sorting Assistant in sets in change of a selection grade Head Sorting Assistant, to whom the duty of receiving mails has been delegated takes delivery of the mails as correct and in good condition and permits the carrier to leave the office without a written explanation for any discrepancies noticed or does not question in writing the official in charge of the Transit Section from which the mails were received, the carrier or the official will be free from all responsibility, which will then rest entirely on the Mail Assistant, ma il Agent or Guard or the Head Sorting Assistant or the Mail Sorting Assistant in sets in charge of a Selection Grade Head Sorting Assistant, to whom the duty of receiving mails has been delegated as the case may be, in the event of a bag being-subsequently found to be missing or to have been tampered with.
82. Disposal of mail lists received.-As soon as the mails received have been compared with the entries in the mail lists which accompany them, these documents must be signed by the Mail Assistant, mail Agent or Guard or Head Sorting Assistant or the Mail Sorting Assistant in sets in charge of a selection grade Head Sorting Assistant, to whom the duty of receiving mails has been delegated as the case may be, who may hen put them aside and at his leisure, stamp them and place them or record, provided that this is done before the close of the working hours, in the case of Post Offices and Mail Offices or before arrival at the terminal station, in the case of Transit Sections.
REGISTRATION AND PARCEL DEPARTMENTS
83. Meaning of the expression “Registered articles of the letter mail” and “Parcel mail articles”.-Whenever in the Manual Rules these expressions are used, they include, respectively, the following classes of articles, unless it is clear from the context that any of them is excluded:
I
Ordinary registered letters and packets
84. Conditions regarding registration, insured, etc. -The conditions regulating the posting of parcels, the registration of articles of letter and parcel mail, their insurance and dispatch under the value payable system, and allied information, “in respect of inland articles and, foreign articles” are contained in Indian Post Office Rules, 1933 as corrected from time to time. Articles should be accepte d only if they satisfy these conditions. In the matter of insurance of a registered letter or a parcel, it should be ascertained, as the case may be, if insurance service is available to the office or country to which the article is addressed.
(2) Registered and insured article addressed to foreign countries should be treated in the same way as inland articles of the same classes and forwarded to the office of foreign exchange concerned. An acknowledgement for a foreign insured article should, however, be prepared only if the prescribed fee for such an acknowledgement is paid by means of stamps affixed to the article in addition to the postage and the fees for registration and insurance.
NOTE.- “The name and address of the sender of a foreign insured lette r should be recorded in the space provided for the purpose on the receipt in the registered journal”.
85. Distinguishing letters placed before numbers.-The classes of registered articles of the letter and parcel mails named below are distinguished by the following letters placed before the numbers:
Insured articles – by “Ins”,
V.P. articles – by “V.P.”
Postal service registered articles – by cipher “O”, and the same mode fo distinguishing these classes of articles should be adopted wherever the numbers are recorded.
NOTE. -In the case of registered or insured bundles, the distinguishing letters “R.B.” or “I.B.” are used as part of the number.
NOTE 1. -If the sender or addressee of a foreign registered article of the letter mail posted in a foreign country belonging to the Universal Postal Union and addressed to a place in any other country belonging to that Union, desires to have an enquiry made regarding the disposal of the article, he should be required to pay the prescribed fee and present a written application. The fee should be converted into stamps of equivalent value. The stamp should then be loosely affixed to the application and should thereafter be forwarded to the Head of the Circle.
NOTE 2. - If the sender or addressee of a foreign parcel desires to have an enquiry made regarding its disposal, action should be taken as described in the preceding note.
87-A. Complaints and enquiries relating to the Foreign mail.-the complaint or enquiry for information regarding an article of the foreign letter mail or parcel mail is received at a Post Office or RMS Office, the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant should see that postage stamps equivalent to the fee and charges prescribed in the Appendix to the Post Office Guide, Part -II, have been affixed to the letter of complaint or enquiry. If the party making the complaint or enquiry has not attached a facsimile of the envelope, or, of he writing on the covering of the article, he should be request to do so; but the complaint or enquiry should not be withheld if the party fails to comply with the request. If the complaint relates to a “Cash on Delivery” article, it
should further be seen that it is accompanied by a copy of the relative money order. Full particulars, as far as possible, should be obtained from the party. In the case of registered articles and parcels, the particulars regarding the number, date of posting and office of posting should be verified from the receipt produced by the sender. If he is unable to produce the receipt and the article had been posted at the same office, these particulars should be verified from the office records. The letter of complaint or enquiry with the postage stamps affixed on it, and he necessary enclosures should then be forwarded to the office of exchange through the Divisions Superintendent furnishing full information regarding 5he manner of disposal in case the complaint or enquiry relates to an article posted at the office. The Divisional Superintendent will be responsible to see that complete action has been taken and in the case of articles posted in India, as full information as possible regarding the disposal of the article in question has been furnished, before he forwards the case to the office of exchange.
way, and an envelope prepared in the manner indicated above should be attached to it as a label. The registered bundle should then be placed with other registered articles inside the registered bag under preparation for office to which the mails for the office to which it is addressed are sent.
NOTE.-In case where drill bags are used for enclosing registered bundles, the number of bags so used should be written in words and figures at the top of the registered list.
RB should be entered in the registered list as below:
RB 3 Guntakal HO
RB 5 of Bellary HO
| added within brackets thus: | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| R.B. 5 _________ Agra Fort | (of Lucknow GPO) | R.B. 5 ___________ Agra Fort | ( Delhi GPO), etc. |
DNOTE 1.- Territorial bundles should be prepared in the case of Foreign Air Mail article whenever the number of article for any country is not less than five.
NOTE 2. -Uninsured registered articles for dispatch to the R.L.O. may be sent in registered bundles addressed to the R.L.O.
NOTE 3. -Registered article to be dealt with by a Mail Office or section may, under the orders of the Head of the Circle, be put up by another Mail Office or section in registered bundles.
(5) Separate registered bundle should be closed for Foreign Air Mail book packets, sample packets, printed papers, newspapers, etc., whenever the number of such articles is not less than five. A blue check-slip should be tied to each bundle marked boldly ‘A.O.’. In the case of unpaid or sorting articles, the necessary indication in manuscript should be made in check-slip.
89-A. Insured Bundles. -Whenever there are two or more insured letters for dispatch from one Post Office to another, the office of dispatch will enclose them in an insured bundle addressed to the latter, except that in the case of insured letters for places for which two delivery sorting is done by the RMS no insured bundles will be prepared unless there are two or more insured letters for one and the same town Post Office of delivery. The insured letters for inclusion in the bundle will be placed in an insured envelope, or, if necessary in a dosuti bag, clearly addressed to the Post Office of destination. A number will be given to the insured bundle corresponding to the number of letters it contains, preceded by the distinguishing letters “I.B.”, with the name of the office of destination below it, thus:
I.B. 5 I.B. 6, etc.
Delhi GPO Lucknow 1
These entries should be similarly repeated by all intervening offices. If two insured bundles bearing the same distinguishing mark pass through the same office at the same time, the names of offices closing the insured bundles should be added within brackets thus:
I.B. 5 (of L8ucknow) I.B. 5 (Ambala), etc.
Delhi GPO Delhi GPO
The insured bundle will be properly closed and sealed. If a bag is used, it will be labeled with a plain manilla tag label. The weight in grams will be entered in words on the insured envelope or the insured label, as the case may be.
90. Preparation of registered and parcel lists.-(1) When the mails are under preparation for dispatch, registered and parcel lists should be prepared. When there are tow or more dispatches prescribed daily between a Post Office and a set of a Mail Office, or between Post Offices, or between sets of different Mail Offices, the dispatches should be numbered in a consecutive order or registered list and parcel list. The total number of registered articles for despatch with each registered or parcel list should be entered in the registered or parcel abstract immediately after the preparation of the registered or parcel list for the office to which it is to be sent.
(2) A parcel list should be prepared every day for each Post Office, Mail Office to which the sorting list shows that parcel mail articles may be sent, whether there are parcel mail articles for dispatch or not. If no any day there are no parcel mail articles for dispatch with a parcel list, the blank list to be sent should be duly stamped and signed, and the word “nil” should be written in the place for total. Blank parcel lists need not be prepared in duplicate. No office copy is necessary. A note is to be made in the parcel abstract.
EXCEPTION.- As no-delivery town sub-offices which have no branch offices in account with them do not exchange registered articles or parcels with their hand offices and stationery sorting offices in the same station on Post Office holidays, these no-delivery town sub-offices need not exchange “nil” registered and parcel lists with those offices on Sundays and Post Office holidays. A remark should, however, be made in the registered or parcel list sent on the following day to the effect that the previous day was a Post Office holiday.
NOTE.- In no-delivery offices which are not authorized to deliver from their window insured and value-payable articles exceeding the prescribed limits of value, the total number of registered articles and bundles or of parcels dispatched each day should be recorded on the back of the last used page of the registered journal for the day, instead of in the parcel or registered abstract, as the case may be. The dispatch items should be totaled and tallied separately in respect of ordinary registered (including V.P.) and insured articles booked and registered and insured bundles prepared.
NOTE.- Insured envelopes and insured bundles should be entered in the same registered lists and place in the same registered bag as other registered articles of the letter mail. When there are no insured envelopes or bundles for despatch, the word “nil” should be entered in the space provided at the foot of the registered list. Insured parcels should be entered in the same parcel lists as other registered parcels.
V.P. articles should be entered in the same registered or parcel lists and in the same way as ordinary registered articles of the letter or parcel mail.
91. Closing of registered bag, registered packet and parcel bags.-(1) When a registered or parcel bag or a registered packet bag is to be closed, the articles to be a placed in it, with the acknowledgements (if any) should be examined with a view to making the correction of errors in sorting. The articles should then be checked with the entries in the list concerned, and the total number of articles advised in each list should be compared with the number entered in the appropriate abstract.
92. Closing insured bag.-(1) When an insured bag is to be closed, the insured parcels for despatch should, after entry on the issue side of the parcel abstract, be shown along with parcel list in which they are entered, to the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant as the case may be, who should sign both pencil and carbon copies of the list, separately, either in ink or blue pencil, and not by means of the carbonic process, the stamping being also done separately on both copies. The insured parcels should then be placed by the Parcel Assistant or Parcel Sorting Assistant himself in the insured bag in the presence of the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant who should satisfy himself that the parcels entered in the list have been actually placed in the bag.
A blue tag label should be fastened to a price of strong card which should be tied tightly round the neck of the bag and knotted in two places opposite each other; the ends of the card should then be passed through the holes of a tin seal-holder and again fastened in a knot. The insurance seal should be impressed of good sealing-wax applied over the knot of the cord in the hollow of the tin seal holder and also over the knot at the point opposite, under which a price of paper should be first placed in order to prevent damage to the bag. An insured label should be pasted to the tag label.
NOTE.-A canvas bag of suitable size may be used for the preparation of an insured bag when the parcels to be enclosed in the bag cannot conveniently be placed in a dosuti cloth bag and a remark ‘canvas bag used’ should be entered at the top of the parcel list.
93. Use of more than one registered or parcel bag for the same office or Transit Section. -(1) When the number of registered articles of the letter mail or parcels to be dispatched to a Transit Section or Office necessitates the use of more than one registered or parcel bag, the labels on the bags should be clearly numbered 1, 2 and so on. By the side of the number marked on the label of bag number 1 should be written the total number of bags forming the despatch, thusk1/3, ¼ etc. The bag made up last should be numbered 1, so that the total number of bags can conveniently be noted on the label.
(2) A separate registered or parcel list, as the case may be, should be placed in each bag, giving a deta il of its contents and bearing the number given to the bag, thus “Bag No. 1”, “Bag No. 2” and “Bag No. 3” in the case of a despatch consisting of three bags. By the side of the number written on the list enclosed in Bag No. 1 should be entered the total number of bags forming the despatch, as in the case of a label of that bag. The receiving office or Transit Section should see by reference to the second number on the list enclosed in Bag No;. 1 that all the bags comprising the despatch have been received. If, from any cause, Bag No. 1 is not received along with the others forming the despatch, the irregularity should be noted, and a telegram sent to the despatching office or, in the case of a Transit Section, to the record office concerned intimating the non-receipt of the bag in question and enquiring what the total number of bags used for the despatch was.
96. Opening of registered, registered packets and parcel bags and examination of their contents.-(1) The registered bags and bundles and registered packets bags addressed to an office and the insured envelopes and bundles addressed to a Post Office should be opened by a Registration Assistant and the parcel bags addressed to an office by the Parcel Assistant. When there are two or more receipts prescribed to be received daily from a Post Office or a set of a mail Office, the labels of the registered bags as well as the registered and parcel lists should be properly scrutinized to see that the correct despatch number is written by the dispatching office.
NOTE.-Insured envelopes appertaining to letters for delivery from a Post Office or from branch offices in account which are not authorized to perform registration work independently should be preserved until the addressees’ receipts have been obtained. Those appertaining to letters which are redirected or sent for delivery to branch offices authorized to perform registration work independently need not be preserved.
NOTRE 1.-When a number of insured letters for delivery are received by a town sub-office from its Head Office or from another town sub-office under that head office enclosed in a paper cover or bag, the cover or bag should be examined and weighed and the weight should be checked in the manner prescribed for insured bundles or insured bags, as the case may require.
NOTE 2. -In Sorting Mail Offices, the Registration/Parcel Sorting Assistant should ma intain a check-sheet showing the numbers of Insured articles received. The Head Sorting Assistant’ Supervisors will tick off these entries in the check-sheet when insured articles bearing these numbers are actually dispatched after due verification. The check-sheet will be finally signed in fully by the Registration Sorting Assistant/Parcel Sorting Assistant and the Head Sorting Assistant or Supervisor as the case may be, and will form part of the work papers of the Set. The Head of a Circle may relax the provisions of this note in case of sets of Mail Offices for special reasons.
(7) In Post Offices, registered articles and parcels with the acknowledgements, if any, should be separated into-
those for delivery, and
those for onward transmission
The former should be stamped (this being done by the Registration or Parcel Assistant himself in the case of registered articles) and put aside for distribution and the latter should be locked up till it is time to prepare the mail for despatch.
NOTE.-So long as insured articles remain undelivered, they may be kept under lock and key. If they cannot be delivered within a reasonable time, they should be kept in the office safe.
(8) The registered and parcel lists should be stamped and placed on record after being signed by the Registration or Parcel Assistant or Sorting Assistant, the registered lists received in registered or insured bundles being kept attached to the due registered lists in which the bundles are invoiced.
NOTE.- When a money order from relating to a value-payable article is not received with the article, the first office detecting the irregularity should not it in the registered or parcel list with which it is dispatched in the case of articles for onward transmission, and report the irregularity to the Superintendent of Post Offices or 1st class Postmaster to whom the office of posting of the article is subordinate. Intervening offices which may have to handle the a article should repeat the remark in the registered or parcel list dispatched by them, and in the office of delivery, the irregularity should be noted in the Error Book.
97. Examination and opening of insured bags received.-(1) Insured bags will be received enclosed in parcel and mail bags and in the latter case , they will be made over under receipt to the Parcel Assistant or Parcel Sorting Assistant, as the case may be, by thye Delivery Assistant or the Head Sorting Assistant, respectively.
should also be entered in the parcel list against the particular entry and the entry should be initialed by the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant. If these weights differ, the bag should be given unopened to the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant who should open it in the presence of witnesses and deal with it further in accordance with the rules relating to investigations. If the weights agree and in the case of insured bags bearing labels on which the weight is not noted, the bag should, if addressed to the office be opened and the contents taken out by the Parcel Assistant or Parcel Sorting Assistant himself in the presence of the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant.
98. Examination of insured parcels received.-Insured parcels received, whether in sorting or for delivery, must be carefully examined by the Parcel Assistant or Parcel Sorting Assistant, as the case may be, in the presence of the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant respectively, at the time the insured bags are opened to see that they are in good condition, that they bear the date-stamp impressions of the offices of posting, that they have been properly packed and sealed, and that the seals, sewing etc., are intact. The parcels should also be scrutinized in the manner prescribed for uninsured parcels. Each parcel should then be weighted ant the ascertained weight (in grammes) should, after check with that entered on the parcel, be recorded on the parcel list with which it was received. Any imperfection, however, slight or any discrepancy in the weight or the absence of the date-stamp impression of the office of posting should be immediately brought to the notice of the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant. If there are no grounds for suspecting that the parcel has been tampered with, a note of the defect or discrepancy should be made on the parcel list with which it was received, and if the parcel is for onward transmission, also on the list with which it is to be dispatched. If there are grounds for suspicion, the parcel should be made over to the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant who will deal with it in accordance with the rules relating to investigations after noting the irregularity in the Error Book or Daily Report.
NOTE.-Parcels posted in some States have, before posting, to be taken to the custom-house, where they are sealed by the custom-house authorities in taken of customs dues having been paid; and consequently, insured parcels posted under such conditions be ar two different seal impressions and frequently two different kinds of sealing-wax. In such cases, the Parcel Assistant or Parcel Sorting Assistant must se that the office of posting has written on the parcel the words “Customs-house seals added to the parcel: total number of seals (number)” and that this number corresponds with the number of seals borne by the parcel. If the note has not been entered on the parcel, the Parcel Assistant or Parcel Sorting Assistant should himself add it.
99. Deficienc y in fees or postage on registered articles and unregistered parcels:-(1) If the postage including the registration or other fee, on a registered article o f the letter mail or insured letter received in a Post Office for delivery is found to be insufficient, the Registration Assistant must bring the fact to the notice of the Postmaster who should note the weight of the article on the cover, and in the Error Book whether it is insured or not, and obtain the cover from the addressee; if possible.
(2) The Parcel Assistant should similarly bring to the notice of he Postmaster any deficiency in postage or other fees prepared on parcels. For this purpose, the Parcel Assistant must examine all station articles of the parcel mail received and weigh them, if necessary, in order to see that:
(a) in the case of all registered parcels (insured or uninsured), the postage stamps affixed to the parcels or to official labels pasted on them represent the full amount of the postage and prescribed fees, including any redirection fee which may halve been prepared.
(b ) in the case of all unregistered parcels, the postage stamps affixed to them or to official labels pasted on them represent the full amount of the potage and redirection fee in case the latter has been prepaid.
NOTE 1.-In the case of redirected parcels (registered and unregistered) on which redirection fee is recoverable from the addressee, the Parcel Assistant must see that the correct amount of fee is marked on the parcel and if any incorrect entry has been made, bring the fact to the notice of the Postmaster who should correct it under his initials. In a branch office, the Branch Postmaster should see whether the correct amount of postage has been marked on the parcel and, if any incorrect entry has been made, he should correct it under his initials.
NOTE 2. -In the case of a parcel redirected by any branch office, it should be shown to the Postmaster who should check the amount of redirection fee, if paid as well as the entry “Redirected postage …..” or “Redirection changes paid” made thereon and initial the entry in token of his having carried out the check. If he entry is made in the regional language by the Branch Postmaster, fresh entry should be made by the Postmaster in English. If eh inland redirected parcel is received from a branch office as refused, the change for redirection should be cancelled under the initial of the Postmaster.
(3) The Postmaster should report the deficiency to the Superintendent to whom the office of posting is subordinate, the report being accompanied in the case of inland articles of the letter mail, by the cover obtained from the addressee. In all such cases, the official at fault in the office of posting will be required by the Superintende nt concerned to pay a sum equal to the deficiency. The amount recovered should be converted into postage stamps which should be affixed to the Superintendent’s letter ordering the recovery and defaced with the date-stamp of the office.
NOTE.- This rule may, under the orders of the Head of the Circle, be relaxed in special cases, when it is quite clear that the official concerned in the office of posting was not to blame, or where the penalty who be too great in comparison with the fault committed.
EXCEPTION.-This rule does not apply to inward foreign parcels.
99/1. Re-use of used up stamps and removal of stamps.-the Registration and Parcel Assistant should examine all the articles received with a view to see whether any of the stamps borne on them has been either reused or removed. Examination for the re-use of used up stamps is specially necessary in the case of stamps of higher denominations. Suspected cases should be entered in Error Book or daily report and the brought to the notice of the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant for sending an error extract and taking further action. In respect of articles received from branch offices, the cases should be reported to the Sub-Divisional Inspectors concerned.
GENERAL
110. Deleted.
101. Deleted.
office in the which impressions of all the stamps and seals holding date or other movable type should be taken daily before they are brought into use. The impressions of the round and oblong money order stamps and the unpaid stamp should, however, be taken in a separate book of postmarks, which should be kept in the personal custody of the Postmaster. In the Post Offices where special delivery stamps are supplied, the Delivery Assistant should examine the book before each delivery to see that the required change has been correctly made, and in all offices and Transit Sections where stamps holing date or other movable type are used, the Assistant or Sorting Assistants in charge of the several departments or sets concerned should examine the book to see that the type of correctly and punctually changed and are responsible that they are kept clean. In offices where mechanical stamp canceling machines are in use, whenever the movable types in the die of a stamp canceling machine are changed, the first impression should be taken on a a price of paper and should be pasted in the book. In every case, the official responsible for the examination should initial the impressions in token of having carried out the check.
(2) The Postmaster, Head Sorting Assistant Mail Agent, Mail Guard or Record Assistant, as the case may be, is required to see that this rule is carried out and that the impressions are distinct and clear, and he should initial the book every day after all the impressions of the day have been taken.
103-A. Cleaning of Seals and Stamps.-All the stamps and seals in use in every Post Office, in each set of Mail Office and Transit Section and in every record office must be cleansed first by boiling them in water and then washing them with kerosene oil and brush. This should be done at least once a month, but where the frequency of use of the stamps and seals is greater, it should be resorted to at more frequent intervals say once a fortnight or a week. The fact of cleansing the seals and stamps should every time be recorded in the Postmaster’s order book in Head Offices, in the Error Book in sub-offices, in the rough note book of the Head Sorting Assistant, the Mail Agent or the Record Assistant which will be examined by the Inspecting Officers at the time of inspection.
104. Letter-boxes.-Letter-boxes are provided at public thoroughfares and other central positions, and are intended for the reception of unregistered articles of the letter mail.
NOTE 1. -Large cover or other letters which, owing to their size, cannot be posted in the letter-box, may be received by hand at the window of the office.
NOTE 2. - Please see the note below Rule 59 of this volume.
(a) All valid postage stamps borne by articles of all classes posted should be defaced by the minimum number of impressions of the obliterator with wavy lines or where this stamp is not available, the date-stamp, care being exercised to ensure that all the postage stamps bear cancellation marks. When two postage stamp appear together, they should be defaced by single impression so placed that the date-stamp covers both the postage stamps, the greater portion of the stamp falling on the cover instead of on the postage stamps. Similarly, if there stamps are affixed together, the number of defacing impressions should not be more than 2 and in the case of block of four postage stamps, in shape of a square, only one neat stamp impression placed at the center of the block should suffice. A few illustrations showing the mode of the defacing postage stamps are gfiven below: Postage stamps found unobliterated on station articles received for delivery or on articles passing a sorting should be defaced in the same manner.
| Fig. 1 | Seal | NEW DELHI | Fig. 2 | Seal NEW | |
| DELHI | |||||
| Fig. 3 | Seal NEW DELHI | Fig. 4 | Seal NEW | ||
| DELHI | |||||
NOTE 1.-Stamps other than Indian stamps which cannot, under the rules, be recognized in payment of postage, should not be defaced.
NOTE 2. -In the case of inward foreign articles of the letter mail, postage stamps which are not cancelled by the office of origin through error or oversight, should not be cancelled by impressing the date-stamp, but this should be cancelled by a thick stroke in ink or in indelible pencil by the office which detects this irregularity.
(b) Postcards should be impressed with the round obliterator only by the office of posting and the first office of delivery on the portion of he address-side reserved for the address of the recipient. Reply postcards should not be stamped on the unused portion when the two halves are posted together. But in the reply postcards for foreign countries, the date -stamps should be impressed on the left side of the reply half before the postcards are sent out for delivery.
NOTE.-None of he Rules below applies to postcards.
In the case of foreign articles in the form of cards redirected out of India, the date -stamp of the redirecting office should, however, be impressed on the front side of the article.
( c) Unregistered articles of the letter mail posted bearing no postage stamps should be impressed on the back with the date -stamp.
NOTE 1. - Articles for delivery by a village Postman, if not made over to him immediately after receipt, and all deposit articles should again be stamped with the delivery or date-stamp when issued for delivery.
NOTE 2. -In Head Offices, station articles of he letter mail on which postage is due should be impressed on the back with the Postmaster’s unpaid stamp only.
NOTE 3. -In the RMS, articles delivered direct to the addressees without the intervention of a Post Office should be impressed on the back with the date-stamp.
(g) Mis-sent and mis-directed articles, including money orders whether station or sorting, should be impressed on the back with the delivery stamp or where there is no delivery stamp with the date-stamp when received, and again with combined date-stamp or where there is no combined date-stamp when forwarded to destination, even though the same date be impressed on both occasions. In the RMS, such articles should be impressed on the back with the date -stamp, only at the time the irregularity is detected.
NOTE.-As regard the stamping of acknowledgements for postal articlesl and money orders, see Para. (l) below.
NOTE.-In the RMS undecipherable articles should be impressed on the back with the date-stamp by the office with receives them. In case of the postcard, it is impressed on the face itself.
( r) Protecting and service envelopes closed should be impressed on the back with the date-stamp.
NOTE.-In sub-offices, the date-stamp should be used in place of the deposit stamp.
V.P. and insured articles, and money orders which are addressed in a regional language known to the office of posting but intended for delivery at a place which is not the regional language of that region, the full address should be transcribed into English.
110. Foreign postage stamps on articles for despatch on delivery.Postage stamps for foreign countries should not be recognized in payment of postage or other postal charges on articles posted in Indian Postal Offices, mail offices, sections or letter-boxes. If an article so posted bears only such stamps it should be treated as wholly unpaid, the stamps being ignored. The stamps, however, should not be defaced but a remark, drawing attention to the fact that they are those of a foreign country, should be written on the face article by the office of posting.
EXCEPTION.-The reply postcard service is not available in the foreign post except for Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan and Nepal. The reply-halves of reply postcards originally posted in one of these three foreign countries should be given fee transmission to destination if it is the country of issue of the reply postcard, when reposted in India.
110-A. Treatment of unpaid or insufficiently prepaid articles for Foreign Countries. -(1) Unpaid and insufficiently prepaid articles intended for transmission by surface, should be dealt with as follows if the names and addresses of the senders are known:
delivery on recovery of an amount equal to double the deficiency at inland rate, if any, similar articles of the appropriate cate gory. Articles so returned can be reposted only on payment of fresh postage. If any such articles are received in offices of exchange, the latter will take similar action.
(2) Articles intended for transmission by surface should be dealt with as follows, if the names and addresses of the senders are not known:
NOTE.-In Post Offices, such articles should be made over to the deposit department where they should be bundled and labeled in the manner described above for inclusion in the next daily despatch to the R..L.O.
( c) Such articles bearing spoilt or defaced postage stamps or bearing previously used postage stamps form which no attempt has been made to remove the marks of obliteration or bearing service stamps from which no attempt has been made to remove the letters denoting service (see Rules 387 to 466 of the Postal Manual, Volume-II) as well as those posted in Indian Post Offices or letter-boxes and bearing postage stamps of foreign countries but not prepaid with Indian postage stamps, should be disposed of the same way as unpaid articles under the proceeding paragraphs.
(3) Unpaid and insufficiently prepaid articles intended for transmission by air should be dealt with as follows:
If received in offices of exchange and if the sender’s address is known, the office concerned should paste a slip on the article stating “Unpaid/Underpaid”, “Please affix: (value) in stamps, detach this slip and repost”. The article along with the slip should be dispatched to the sender in a service cover, with the remark “Unpaid/Underpaid, returned for making up the deficiency”. Such articles should be accepted when reposted after affixing the deficient posta ge.
(4) Articles intended for transmission by air not bearing the names and addresses of the senders should be dealt with as follows:
(i) Action as stated in Para, 4 (a) (ii) above should be taken by offices of exchange also whenever articles other than letters and single postcards are received entirely unpaid or paid for postage less than that required to be paid for a similar article for transmission by surface mail.
(ii) Unpaid and insufficiently prepaid letters and postcard letters and postcards and all other articles on which the changes paid represent at least 75% of he air surcharge payable thereon for the country of destination in question, should be disposed of as shown below:
111. Deleted.
111-A. Calculation of Deficiency of postage of foreign articles. -The offices of exchange when required to forward unpaid or insufficiently paid articles either by air or by surface routes under provisions of Rule 110-A above, should impress on each such article with “T” stamp in the middle of the upper part of eh front side. By the side of the stamp impression, a small horizontal line should be drawn. Above the line, an amount equal to twice the amount of deficient postage in paise, should be written in a clearly legible manner. The amount of deficient postage should be calculated carefully after weighing the articles as also ascertaining its correct category and the changes due to be pa id according to the current rates. Below the line, the postage charge in paise payable for letters of the first weight step should be indicated very clearly.
111-B. Deleted.
111-C. Open and insecurely closed unpaid letters.-Unpaid letters which are posted open or insecurely closed should not be sent to the R.L.O. but should be securely closed and forward to its destination..
112. Postcards of private manufacture.-(1) One of the conditions laid down in the Indian Post Office Rule, 1933, as corrected from time to time under which single and reply postcards of private manufacture may be transmitted by the inland post as postcards is that, as regards substance they are neither thinner nor more flexible than the inland postcards issued by the Pos t Office. This condition does not preclude the use of postcards or cards of private manufacture which are either thicker or less flexible than the departmental inland postcards. So long as a card or private manufacture is of the consistence of a card, and no merely a piece of ordinary paper cut to the size of a postcard, it should be followed to pass unchallenged.
(2) No objection should be raised to postcards from the address side of which inadmissible words, formerly printed, have been erased, provided that the words have been so erased as to remove them altogether, and not merely struck out by drawing a line through them.
113. Unpaid articles addressed by the public to officials of the Department.-(1) Unpaid articles addressed to officials of the Indian Postal Department, as such, should be taxed with postage in the usual way, treated as refused and sent to R.L.O. for return to the sender and recovery from him of the amount of the postage due on them.
EXCEPTION – See Paragraph 665 of the Postal Manual, Volume-II.
(2) Application for refunds on unused reply paid passes for telegrams should not be transmitted to the Telegraph Check Office, Kolkata, fee on postal service. Applications for fee service in this connection should be informed that they must address the officer in charge of the check office direct, paying he usual postal change including that for registration if they wish to sent the application by registered
post.
114. Articles found open, damaged or without contents.-(1) If an unregistered article of the letter or parcel mail taken from a letter-box or received in sorting, is observed to be open, torn or otherwise damaged, or without contents, a remark, in accordance with the directions given below, should be written on the article by the Sorting Assistant and initialed by the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant, as the case may be:
“Received open” when found in an open state
“Received torn” or “Received demand”, when received torn or otherwise damaged, e.g., soiled, stained, etc.
“Without contents”, when the article is manifestly merely an empty cover.
If thee are any suspicious circumstances attending the case the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant should make enquiries and endeavour to discover the offe nder.
(4) If a damaged article is received enclosed in an envelope to the
Postmaster’s address, the envelope should be opened and its enclosure dealt with in the manner described above.
115. Treatment of articles, the registration or insurance of which is compulsory.- (1) If an article, the registration of which is compulsory but which has not been registered, is found in the course of sorting in a Post Office,. Or Mail Office or received for delivery in a Post Office, the Assistant or Sorting Assistant detecting the irregularity should after nothing it in his Error Book or notebook, as the case may require, show the article to the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant and then make it over to the official in charge of the registration or parcel department. In Post Offices and in Mail Offices, authorized to perform registration work, the article should be registered and, if the fee for registration has not been prepaid, a fee equal to double the deficiency in usual registration fee should be charged on it. The amount of the Fee PLUS any postage due on the article should be marked on its face below the registration No. slip and a note should be added under the signature of the Postmaster. Head Sorting Assistant or Mail Agent, as the case may be, explaining the reason for the charge. The usual receipt for the sender should be given to the Assistant or Sorting Assistant detecting the irregularity. In Post Offices, the receipt should be posted in the Error Book against the entry concerned, while in Mail Offices, it should be attached to the Head Sorting Assistant’s Mail Agent’s Daily Report. In a section or in a Mail Office not authorized to perform registration work, the article should be forwarded in a protecting cover or bag, as the case may
require, addressed to the Postmaster of the Office of destination after having a note recorded on it, under the initials of the Head Sorting Assistant, Mail Agent or Mail Guard, explaining way it is so sent. The protecting cover or the should, except in Transit Sections and Transit Mail Offices, be treated as an article registered on service. A No. preceded by the letters ‘RMS’ should be given to it and marked in large bold figures on the face in the upper left hand corner. The article should then be entered on the receipt said of the Registered Abstract opposite to an entry “Unregistered article registered” and dispatched to destination in the usual course, the name of he section or office being entered in the registered list as that of the office of posting. If the article is found in the course of sorting during late-fee hours in Mail Office authorized to perform registration work, with and without late-fee, it should be kept in deposit till the office is open for registration and disposed of in accordance with the procedure described above. If the article is found during latte-fee hours in a Mail Office authorized to perform registration work, with late-fee only, it should be kept in deposit till the next day and disposed of in the manner prescribed to be followed by Mail Offices not authorized to perform registration work.
NOTE 1. - Orders for the payment of money issued by the Military Pay Department, whether in the form of a cheque or in any other form, are exempted entirely from the operation of the rule regarding compulsory registration.
NOTE 2. -When an article, the registration of which is compulsory, is found in a letter-box at a time when it would not be accepted for registration if tendered at the window of the Post Office or Mail Office concerned, it should be kept in deposit till the offices next open for registration when it would be made over to the Registration Assistant or Sorting Assistant, as the case may be, for disposal in accordance with the procedure described above.
NOTE 3. -When an article of the foreign letter mail marked “Registered” is found in a letter-box, it should be fully prepaid (including the registration fee) and addressed to a country to which registration service is available, be dealt with in accordance with the procedure described in this rule, otherwise it should be treated as an ordinary article, the world “Registered” marked on it being COMPLETELY SCORED OUIT.
(a) If found in the office of posting, the article should be endorsed “Contains (coin, etc.)” and sent in a protecting cover or bag (i) to the
R.L.O. for return to the sender in the case of a Post Office or (ii) to the Post Office of destination in the case of a Mail Office. If the article is not a registered article, the protecting cover or bag should, before despatch, be registered on service or treated as s service registered article, as the case may require, in accordance with the procedure described in the preceding paragraph.
NOTE.-In sub-offices, such articles for the R.L.O> should be sent to the Head Office.
(b) If found in an intermediate office or section, the article should be forwarded by it in a protecting cover or bag addressed to the Postmaster of the office of destination after having a note recorded on it explaining why it is so sent. If the article is not a registered one, the protecting cover or bag should be treated in the manner laid down in the preceding clause.
( c) If found in the Post Office of delivery or received by it from another office or section, the article should be charged with a fee of two rupees and the amount of this fee PLUS any postage due on it should be marked in red ink on its face when a notice should be added under the Postmaster’s signature explaining the reason for the additional charge of two rupees. The article should then be delivered to the addressee with an intimation that no compensation would have been paid by the Post Office had the article been lost, damaged or tampered with in transit. If the article is refused by the addressee or if the addressee cannot be found, the fee should be recovered from the sender.
(d) The fee when recovered should be converted into postage stamps which should be affixed to the Error Book against the entry relating
to the irregularity and then defaced with the date-stamp of the Post Office concerned.
NOTE.- If a foreign parcel, the insurance of which is compulsory,, is found in the office of the exchange to be uninsured, that office should forward it as an insured parcel. In such cases, the amount of the insurance fee should be recovered from the official at fault in the office of posting in the manner prescribed in Rule 99 (3).
116. Articles marked “by parcel post”.-(1) If an inland article marked “By parcel post” is found in a letter or packet box, the official detecting the irregularity should make a note of it in his Error Book or notebook, as the case may require. The following action should be taken:
(2) Parcels, V.P. articles, insured articles, and money orders will ordinary be addressed to a post town. Should however, such an article addressed to “Camp” be presented at a Post Office, it should not be refused on the ground that no post-town has been named in the address, but should be disposed of according to the instructions referred to above.
120. Correspondence of certain officers when on tour.-When any of the under mentioned officers, viz.
(iii) Regional Postmaster-General.
(vii) Circle Complaints Officer.
(viii) Vigilance Officers.
(c ) Post Office and RMS Divisions
(iii) Asst. Superintendents of Post Offices.
(d) Audit/ Accounts offices
(i) Director -General, Audit P&T.
(ii) Directors/Dy. Directors, Audit P&T.
(iii) Directors/Dy. Directors, Postal Accounts.
On tour, correspondence and office files for and from him will be sent -by his office at Headquarters or by himself in camp, as the case may be - in sealed bags which will, in every instance, be addressed to a specified post town of destination or Mail Offices, except in the case of camp bags for the Director-General which may be addressed C/o RMS also. These bags should be sent loose (i.e., without being enclosed in any mail or transit bag) and treated as unusual mails./ The are to be treated as special bas for the purpose of entry in the mail list (M.1).
NOTE 1. - Camp bags for and from Departmental Offices in Camp may be sent under weighment system on the lines, where mails are exclusively sent under weighment system service in charge of the Railway Guard.
NOTE 2. -Air transmission for camp bags for and from Departmental Officers in camp may be adopted in exceptional circumstances and then only essential papers and not the entire file should be sent.
120-A Disposal of Naval Mails.-The rules relating to the disposal of Naval mails are contained in Appendix.
120-B. Air mail correspondence posted on ships.-Articles posted on board a ship when it is on the high seas, can be prepaid by means of postage stamps of and according to the tariffs of the country to which the ship belongs or of the country by which it is maintained. They will be handed over after being date stamped by the office on board. If they are received without being date stamped, the Post Office receiving them will impress them with its date stamp and forward them in a separate bundle, indicating on the check-slip, the name of ship and it nationality. They will be forwarded by surface routes.
Air mail correspondence posted on board a ship on the high seas, prepaid by meand of postage stamps of the country to which the ship belongs or by which it is maintained w hen handed over a decouvert to an Indian Post Office at an Indian port will be accompanied by a statement AV 2 in duplicate showing the weight of correspondence for each country or destination the date, the name of the ship and its nationality and signed by the ship’s office. If a statement in form AV 2 is not furnished, the articles should be accompanied at least by a statement of weights (in duplicate) for each country of destination. The particulars on the AV 2 or the statement of weights should be checked by the Indian Post Office to which the correspondence is handed over from the ship.
The air mail articles along with the statement accompanying them should be forwarded by the receiving Post Office in India to the nearest of the following offices of exchange for disposal in accordance with the provisions of Rule 99 of the Foreign Post Manual:
Airport Sorting Office, Mumbai
Kokkata Air Sorting, Kolkata
Airport Sorting Office, Chennai
(i) (a) If the articles is suspected to contain any explosive, dangerous, obnoxious, deleterious or filthy substance, any sharp instrument not properly protected, or anything likely to injure the mails or any officer of the Post Office, it should, if detected in a section, be enclosed in a protecting cover or bag and made over ‘outside’ to the first Mail Office where the train halts. If there be no Mail Offices in the beat of the section, the article should be forwarded to the neared Head or Sub-office with which the section is in direct communication. The article should be entered in a separate registered or parcel list or in the mail list according as it belongs to the registered letter mail, the parcel mail or the unregistered letter mail – the entry being followed by an explanatory note over the initials of the Head Sorting Assistant or Mail Guard drawing attention to the nature of the contents; and a receipt for the article should be obtained in the registered abstract, parcel abstract or the duplicate mail list, as the case may require, from the official to whom it is made over the nature of the contents of the article should at the same time be explained to that official.
(b) If detected in a Mail Office, the article should be made over at once to the mail carrier under the procedure described above for conveyance to the nearest Post Office, except when it is suspected to contain explosives or when, owing to the nature of the article or the distance from the Post Office, it may not be practicable or convenient to transfer the article to that office. In the latter case, the article should be detained in the Mail Office and the matter reported at once to the Head of the Circle or Region, as the case
may be in which the Mail Office is situated for orders regarding its final disposal.
( c) If detected in a Post Office or transferred to it by a section or Mail Office, the article should be detained and an immediate report submitted to the Head of he Circle or Region or the case may be.
NOTE.-A leaky article would come under the operation of this clause except that the report in such cases should be made at once to the Superintendent of Post Offices or a First Class Postmaster instead of to the Head of the Circle. When submitting a report to the Superintendent of Post Offices or a First Class Postmaster for orders about the disposal of a leaky article received in Post Office, a notice should be issued simultaneously to the sender asking for his instructions to the furnish within a period of a fortnight of the receipt of the notice by him regarding the disposal of the article. If the Post Office happens to be the office of destination of the article, a notice should also be sent to the addressee and the article made over to him if he is willing to accept delivery without the department being held responsible in any way. If the Superintendent of Post Offices or the First Class Postmaster is unable to dispose of the leaky article or where its destruction is necessary, the matter should be reported to the Head of the Circle fro orders regarding the final disposal of the article.
(ii) If the article is suspected to contain any other prohibited goods, it should be forwarded in a protecting cover or bag, as the case may require, marked “Doubtful” addressed to the Postmaster of the office of destination, with a note over the initials of the Postmaster, Head Sorting Assistant, Mail Guard or Mail Agent, as the case may be, explaining the reasons for suspecting the article.
No article should be intercepted, unless it is certain that the matter contained therein is a prohib ited one. In all cases of doubt, a report should first be made to the Head of eh Circle and his orders obtained. IN the report, a full description of the matter should be given and, if possible an exact copy of the ticket, proposal or other matter conce rning lottery, considered to be prohibited for transmission by post, should be sent.
( c) In the case of an article containing anything indecent or obscene or bearing on the outside whether on the article itself, as in the case of a newspaper or on the cover – words, marks or designs of an indecent or obscene character or of a character falling under the other heads of the category given in the Sections 19adn 20 of the IPO Act., 1898 and Rules 44 & 45 of IPO Rules, 1933 as corrected from time to time, it should be forwarded to the R.L.O. with a remark drawing attention to the irregularity. This power should not be exercised in respect of advertisements without the express order of the Head of the Circle, and no advertisement should be intercepted on the ground that it is indecent or obscene without first making a report to him and obtaining his orders. IN the report, a full description of the advertisement should be given, an exact copy of he passage supposed to be indecent or obscene being sent with it.
NOTE 1. -In an article infringes any of he prescribed conditions as to the manner of posting, packing, size, contents, etc., for which the penalty is the payment of a higher rate of postage, it should be charged with the enhanced rate of postage in accordance with the rules laid down in the Post Office Guide, Part-I.
NOTE 2. -For the purpose of this rule, any newspaper, or any book, pattern, or sample packet suspected to contain any thing in contravention of the provisions of the Post Office Guide, P art-I, may be opened or unfastened by the Postmaster in order to verify the suspicion.
NOTE 3.-In sub-offices, the articles referred to in Clauses (a) to (c) of Paragraph (4) should be forwarded to the Head Office with a remark drawing attention to the irregularity.
NOTE 4. -The transmission by post of gold coin or bullion or both of a value exceeding Rs. 1,00,000 is prohibited. The sender of an article containing gold coin or bullion or both has to declare on the article the value of the contents at the time of despatch. If the sender has made false declaration about the value, he is liable to be punished under Section 64 of the Indian Post Office Act. When articles containing gold or bullion or both exceeding the prescribed value are detected, the articles should not be delivered without the orders of the Superintendent or First Class Postmaster.
123. Articles prohibited from important or liable to customs duty. -(1) When there is good reasons to supposed that an article passing through the post contains any goods (a) the import of which into Indian by post is prohibited, or (b) when are liable to duty, it should be forwarded in a cover for in the case of a parcel, in a bag) marked “Doubtful” addressed to the Postmaster of the office of destination, with a note explaining the reasons for suspecting the article. Special case should be exercised in the examination of bulky artic les of the inward foreign letter mail.
EXCEPTION 1. -Any article of the class referred to in (b) detected at the offices of exchange of Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi and at the sub-exchange offices alt Ahmedabad, Bangalore, cochin and Jaipur should be made over to the nearest Collector of Customs and assessed before it is delivered or transmitted onwards by post, as the case may be, Articles containing fictitious stamps as defined in sub-section (4) of Section 263-A of the Indian Penal Code, if detected at those offices, should similarly be made over to the nearest Collector of Customs for disposal.
EXCEPTION 2.-inward articles of the foreign mail prepaid at the latter rate which contain dutiable goods and are furnished on the address side with either a green label marked “Douane” (Customs) showing the nature, weight and value of he contents or a green label marked “Douane” accompanied by a separate customs declaring should be detained for customs examination.
R.L.O. concerned for return to the sender. If found to contain unset diamonds, fire-arms, military stores or articles, other than explosives, included in the term “ammunition” as defined in the Indian Post Office Rules relating to prohibited category articles, or fictitious as defined in sub-section (4) of Section 263-A of the Indian Penal Code, the article should not be delivered to the addressee, but the Postmaster should at once take steps, in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Postal Manual, Volume -VI, to forward the article to the chief post of the state nearest to the office of delivery to be made over to the Customs authorities for any action that may be considered necessary. In cases where an article is found to contain explosives, the Postmaster should act on the instructions contained in Rule 122 (1) (a). If the article is found to contain anything else, the importation of which is prohibited, it should be detained and the case reported for the orders of the Head of the Circle/Region.
NOTE.-In sub-offices, articles found to contain anything the importation of which is prohibited should be sent to the Head Office, except when found to contain intoxicating drugs in which case they should be made over with all the contents to the nearest Collector of Customs for the adoption of such further proceedings as may be deemed proper.
124. Articles containing goods prohibited from export. -If an article posted at any place in India and addressed to a foreign country is actually found, while in course of transmission by post, to contain anything the export of which either generally or to that particular destination is prohibited by the clause bearing the heading “Local prohibitions” in the Inland Post section or by the clauses bearing the heading “Articles Prohibited form export” in the Foreign Post, it should be endorsed “Contains prohibited (name of the prohibited article)” and sent for disposal to the
R.L.O. either direct or, in the case of sub-offices, through the Head Office, except in
cases in which orders are in existence for the disposal of such articles in a different manner.
NOTE.- See also Rule 221 of the Indian Post Office Rules.- 1933.
124-A. Deleted.
125. Responsibility for examination of frank.-(1) The Post Office, Mail Office or Section, at which an article, superscribed “On India Government Service” is posted, is the office responsible for the examination of the frank; and a frank which has been passed by the office of posting must not be challenged by any other office.
NOTE 1. -A postcard which contains an obviously bona fide official communication should not be treated as unpaid on the ground that the service stamp which it bears is unsupported by the prescribed superscription or frank, but should be dispatched to destination ass a paid article. The irregularity should, however, be brought to the notice of the office of posting, so that the attention of the Government official concerned may be drawn to the matter
NOTE 2. -All official letters other than parcels posted at Army Post Offices to any address within the country are entitled to fee transmission, provided they are franked by an officer or APO and bears the superscription “Free on active s ervice of FOAS”.
126. Transmission of packets.-ordinarily, unregistered packets will be forwarded in mail bags and registered packets in registered bags. In all cases, however, in which registered packet bag are prescribed to be made up, they should be used for the transmission of heavy registered packets. When, owing to their number and size, all the heavy unregistered packets cannot be included in the due mail bag, they should be enclosed in extra ‘L’ bags closed.
(ii) If, however, owing to the number and size of the registered packets, all the articles cannot be enclosed in the due registered bag for an office for which a registered packet bag is not prescribed, they should be forwarded in the registered in the registered packet bag closed for that office a remark “RP bag closed” being made in the registered list of the due registered bag.
NOTE.-When ever there are on any day, five or morel surface station registered packets for any Post Office for which a direct mail bag or a direct registered packet bag is not closed, the Registration Assistant or the Registration Sorting Assistant, as the case may be, should prepare a direct registered packet bag for that Post Office: Mkumkbai GPO, Kolkata RMS and Chennai Sorting will close direct registered packets bags only if there are ten or morel surface station registered packets for the same Post Office and no registered packets bag is prescribed to be closed.
127. Manner of forwarding parcels.-(1) The parcel sorting list will show whether parcels for despatch to an office are to be enclosed in a parcel bag or in a mail bag. As a general rule, the use of parcel bags will be prescribed only when an office ordinarily dispatches many parcels or where a separate establishment of parcel runners is entertained. A parcel bag must never be include in a despatch which is not accompanied by a mail list.
127-A. Manner of forwarding Air Parcels.
( c) Even the Mail Offices which do not perform parcel work should handle air parcels as a special case and observe the procedure laid down above.
128. Correction of documents.-In the event of an error in a mail-list, registered list, parcel list, daily account S.P. slip, or any other document to be placed on record, the documents should not be returned to the issuing office for correction, except under the orders of the Head of the Circle or Superintendent. If necessary, a copy of the documents may be prepared and sent to the office concerned, or a revised document may be called for, or the correction may be carried out in the authority of a letter, provided that there is no special prohibition against doing so. In the last case, the letter of authority should be filed with the corrected document.
NOTE 1. -When a revised or corrected document is received under this rule in substitution for the original, both should be retained on record, attached to each other, a note being added on the original above the signature of the Postmaster or the Record Assistant, as the case may be.
NOTE 2.- In all cases, whenever copies of original documents are issued or revised lists are supplied, they should be properly attested or signed by Record Assistants or Postmasters or on their behalf by their assistants, as the case may be.
129. Use of proper bags.-(1) It is the duty of the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant to see that bags of suitable sizes are used for each despatch of mails. When required, extra bags should be used and if the use of “plural” bags would facilitate the conveyance of the mails, the matter should be brought to the notice of he officer by whom the due mail-lists are supplied.
129-A. Proper use of bags.-Bags should be lifted and not dragged on the floor. Before bringing a bag into use, the label and cord meant for it should be kept loosely tied to one of the rings after turning the bag to have the proper side-out. Similarly bags received after cutting of the card, the seal, card and label should be kept tied to one of its rings, the contents taken out and he bags turned ins ide out. The seal, cord and label should be removed and thrown only after all the contents of the bag are checked and found correct.
130. Manner of labeling, closing and sealing bags.-(1) In cases where sealing-wax is used, the cord should first be passed through the hole in the tag label to be attached to the bag, the two ends should then be brought together and the double cord tied in a loop-knot close up against the label. After this has been done, the bag should be tied with “clove hitch” as explained I the following sketches:
THE “CLOVE-HITCH”
Fig. 1 B A Fig. A B
The cord should be passed twice round the neck of the bag as shown in the Sketches 1 and 2.
Fig. 3 B A Fig. 4 A B
The ends should then be crossed as in Sketch 3 and the end marked “B” passed between the cord and the bag as in Sketch 4. One and should then be taken in each hand and the cord pulled as tight as possible, a small piece of paper being previously placed under the “clove-hitch”. This paper should invariably be of circular size 4 cm. In diameter and should be impressed either with the combined date-stamp or the ordinary date-stamp on the side other than that on which the seal is to be affixed. A single knot should then be tied and the seal impressed on sealing-wax applied over the knot. Care should be taken that the knot over the “clove -hitch” and the loop-knot of the label do not come too close together, as the sealing wax is to be applied only over the former. The impression of the seal hard down on the wax and keeping it there till the wax gets cold. Only enough sealing wax should be used to obtain a distinct impression, as the use of too great a quality facilitates tampering.
Both ends of the cord to the bag should be cut close to the single knot over the “clove-hitch” before the sealing wax is applied.
NOTE 1. -If the bag is provided with the side lops, both rounds of the cord should be passed through one of them.
NOTE 2. -In cases where small tin seal-holders are used under the orders of the Head of the Circle, both rounds of the cord should be passed through the holes of the seal-holder and the inside the seal-holder by means of the “clove -hitch” and single knot. In such cases, it will of course, not be necessary to place a piece of paper under the knot.
(2) When a tin seal-holder is received with a bag, it should be kept with the empty bag and re-used with the bag, if the bag is used for the despatch of mails, or returned with the bag, if the bag is used for the despatch of mails, or returned with the bag, if the bag is returned as surplus.
133. Due despatch of registered bags.-(1) registered bag should be placed in every mail bag dispatched, except “plural” and “extra” mail bags.
(2) Registered bags for despatch should be handed by the Registration Assistant of Post Offices, and the Registration Sorting Assistant in Sorting Mail Offices, to the Sorting Assistant or Head Sorting Assistant as the case may be, who should examine the bags, grant receipt for them in the registered abstract and place each of them himself in the proper mail bag. If there are no registered articles or money orders, for
despatch t o the office for which a mail bag is made up, an unsealed empty registered bag would be made over to the Sorting Assistant or Head Sorting Assistant for inclusion in the mail bag. In such cases, the empty bag should be folded and a blank registered list w ith the word ‘Nil’ written on it in the place for the total and duly stamped and signed should be tied with it in such a manner that the word ‘NIL’ can be readily seen. The Sorting Assistant or Head Sorting Assistant should examine the list to see that it bears the word ‘NIL’ in the place mentioned above and the signature of the Registration Assistant or Sorting Assistant. When there are two or more despatches prescribed daily between a office and a set of a Mail Office, or between Post Offices, or between sets of different mail offices the dispatches should be numbered in a consecutive order on the level of the registered bag.
134. Preparation and disposal of special bags and camp bags.-(1) If any orders received regarding special bag and camp bags in a Post Office of Mail Office the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant, as the case may be, should communicate them to the officials concerned and see that they are correctly understood and promptly carried out. If a special bag or camp bag (accompanied by a mail list (M-1 or M-1 (a) as the case may be) is received, it must be shown at once, by day or night, to the Postmaster or in the RMS, taken charge of by the Head Sorting Assistant. If a special bag is made up for despatch, it should be handed ove r to the carried who should be required to sign therefore the duplicate copy of the mail list (M-1 or M-1 (a) as the case may be). Forward special bags should be similarly dealt with. The Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant is personally responsible for the safe custody and prompt and correct delivery or despatch of special bags and is required to sign the mail list. Special bags will be delivered on all days including Sundays and Holidays.
registered articles detailed in it. The mail-list and registered list should be filed in Post Offices with the ordinary daily bundle, and in the RMS with the work-papers of the set which delivered the special bag. The empty bag should be returned to the Post Office, or to the record office of the mail office, which closed the bag.
NOTE.-The instructions in Paragraph (3) apply also to supervising officers in respect of special bags delivered by them.
(4) When delivery of a camp bag is made either by or through a Post Office or direct by a RMS Mail Office, it is the duty of the Postmaster or the Head Sorting Assistant, as the case may be, to see that a receipt for the camp bag is taken on the accompanying mail list. The mail list should be filed in Post Offices with the ordinary daily bundle, and in the RMS with the work papers of the set which delivered the camp bag.
NOTE.-The instructions in Para. (4) apply also to Supervising Officers in respect of camp bags delivered by them.
135. Limit of weight of mails.-(1) The weight to the carried by each letter mail runner on a main line should not ordinarily exceed 14 kg: but in special localities where the country to be traversed is of a hilly or otherwise difficult nature, or where the speed of the mail is of importance, a lower limit may be fixed by the Head of Circle.
136. Supply of Due Mail and Sorting List.-The due mail and sorting list consists of (i) the due mail-list of receipts and despatch (ii) the letter mail sorting list and (iii) the registered and parcel mail sorting list, in three separate parts each of which can ordinarily be printed or prepared in manuscript as the case may require, on a single page of the prescribed form-the list for the Out and In trips of sections being kept separate. These lists are prepared and supplied as follows:
( c) All sub-offices and branch offices as are either transit offices except those in direct communication with RMS and for Transit Sections under the control of Superintendent of Post Offices – By the Superintendent of Post Offices in manuscript.
(2) Village sorting lists are prepared and supplied to Head, Sub and Branch Offices by the Sub-Divisional Inspectors.
NOTE 1. - The due mail land sorting list should invariably be prepared on the standard form (M -9). The instructions contained in the conventions printed on the 1st page of the form (M-9) are intended to serve the dual purpose of guiding the officer who prepares the list and of assisting the Post Office officials to whom it is issued to understand it.
NTOE 2. -The instructions must, therefore, be carefully studied and mastered by the Supervising Officers and the official concerned.
137. Changes in due Mail and Sorting lists.-(1) The Head Postmaster or Record Assistant, as the case may be, should bring to the notice of the officer by whom the list was supplied, any alterations; (whether affecting his own office or an office or section) in sorting or transit arrangements that may appear to be necessary or desirable, owing to alternations in Railway time tables or similar causes. When the transmission of articles can be expedited by adopting a new route or by forwarding them through an office or section other than the one through which they were being forwarded or by exchanging mails with offices or sections not already shown in the due mail-list, the change should be proposed for consideration. If the change is approved, a sorting order prescribing the alteration, to be made in the due mail and s orting list will be issued, or, if the alternations are extensive the offices or sections concerned will be furnished with revised lists. In Head Offices, when a proposal requiring he orders of the Head of the Circle concern any Post Office or mail line under the control of the Superintendent, it must be submitted through the letter officer; and if it affects the village sorting list of a branch office, it should b e brought to the notice of the inspector by whom the list was supplied. In the sub-offices, all suggestions should be made to the Superintendent, those affecting the village sorting list of a branch office being also brought to the notice of the Inspector concerned.
138. Examination and opening of bags.-(1) Every bag received in a Post Office, Mail Office or section from another office or section, or received in one department of an office from another, must be carefully examined to see that it is in good condition, that the cord with which it is tied is secure, that the seal or seals are of the office of despatch and that the lock, if any, is intact and there is no sign of any of these having been damaged or tampered with.
(2) bags addressed to the office or section, which are found to be in good condition, should be opened one at a time. In cutting the cord to open a bag, care must be taken not to damage the seal or seals. The label seal and cord should then be tied to the ring of the bag for identification of the bag if the necessity arises. The seal, label, cord and lock, if any, should be preserved with the bag until it has been ascertained that the contents of the bag are correct. The official who is responsible for the opening of a bag is also responsible for its examination.
139. Bags to be turned inside out.-So long as bags are not in actual use, they should be kept reversed, i.e., turned inside out. In every case, after a bag has been opened and emptied of its contents, it should be turned inside out and carefully examined to see that none of he contents remain in it.
distribution is over. The article or bundle should then be transferred to the sorting department, where it will be dealt with I the manner prescribed in the preceding paragraphs in respect of those received in sorting.
141. Disposal of check-slips.-Check-slip tied to the top of labeled bundles should be disposed of as follows by the office or section which opens the bundles:
142. Mail received damaged or tampered with.-If any portion of the mail received in a Post Office, Mail Office or Section is in any way damaged or if the condition of any bag, fastening or seal creates suspicion that it has been tampered with, or if any bag is missing, the Mail Assistant or other official concerned must bring the matter at once (by day or night) to the notice of the Postmaste4r or Mail Guard Head Sorting Assistant, as the case may be, who should take immediate action in accordance with the rules relating to investigations. The responsibility of the Postmaster or Head Sorting Assistant commences as soon as the matter comes to his notice.
Loss of mails due to air crash
142.-A. (Measures to be taken in case of accident to the air-craft in the course of conveyance). -(i) When, as a result of an accident in the course of conveyance, an aircraft is unable to continue its flight and deliver the mail at the scheduled stopping places, the crew of the aircraft shall hand over the Mail to the Post Office nearest to the place of accident or to the RMS Office best able to reforward the mail. If the crew are prevented from doing so, the Post Office/RMS Office, on being informed of the accident or hearing about the accident, must take over the mails without delay.
(ii) When the accident is fatal and the air craft is rendered a wreckage and/or the crew are the victims of the mishap, the officer incharge of Post Office /RMS Office nearest to the place of accident on being informed of the accident or on hearing about accident should lose no time to reach there. The officer in charge should simultaneously inform the Divisional Superintendent and the nearest Inspector of Post Offices or RMS Office by telephone or telegraph. The officer-in-charge must then proceed personally8 to the place of accident immediately with as much help as he can gather and take charge of the mail or the contents of the postal articles as can be salvaged pending arrival of the Inspector, Superintendent or other Supervising officers.
(iii) The Inspector, Superintendent or other Supervisory Officers on receipt of the information will constitute a salvage party, composed of a few Group ‘C’ and Group ‘D’ officials and proceeding to the place of accident. He would carry with him sufficient number of empty bags and paper covers to safely protect the salvaged mail or the contents.
(vii) the salvaged mail should be immediately brought to the post/RMS Office and separated into five categories and then weighed:
(i) Intact and in good condition, mail bas and TBs.
(ii) Partially burnt or charred mail bearing the address of the sender or addressee
(iii) Damaged or, with partial contents or without contents
(iv) Fully burnt or charged and undisposable or unprotectable articles
(v) Loose contents of he articles.
( c) Such articles mentioned in sub-para. (iii) should be protected and efforts made to connect and restore the loose contents to respective articles as far as possible and be forwarded to the sender/addressee, as the case may be and if the address is available, or else the dame should be sent to RLO for final disposal.
(vii) The detail of the savaged mail should be circulated to all Heads of Circles, Sr. SRMs/SSPOs concerned for wide publicity to the public and subordinate units.
(xii) The expenditure incurred by the Postal Department in affording any relief in bringing the mails from the landed plan or accident site to the Head or Sub-Post Office should be reported to the Head of the Circle, who in turn will communicate it to the DG Posts.
(xiii) A day-to-day liaison should be maintained with the Airlines authorities and Police authorities to recover and collect all possible mails from the wreckage of he aircraft. The liaison and the salvage operations should be continued until the final clearance of the wreckage.
143. Preservation of seats and bags.-(1) When a loss occurs or is suspected, or a bag is received damaged, all seals and fastenings, envelopes and covers with seal, etc., should be carefully preserved in a tin case, and the facts noted in the Error Book. The tin box can be obtained or made locally, and the articles damaged would always be forwarded in the case when sent through the post, so as to prevent their being damaged in transit. The bags too should always be preserved, after being initialled and dated the Postmaster, Head Sorting Assistant or Mail Agent, as the case may be for further identification.
(2) In the case of parcels received in a wicker basket, the basket should be preserved only if it is obvious that it was forced open, or if it is damaged to such an extent as to admit of any of its contents being abstracted. In such cases, the basket should be marked for future identifications.
144. Important irregularities to be reported by telegraph/fax. -(1) An immediate report should be made by telegraph (if possible in accordance with the telegraphic message code) or fax by the Postmaster or official in charge of RMS set concerned to the dispatching office, or if dispatching office is a Transit Section to its record office in the following cases:
(a) A due bag not received, or le ft behind.
EXCEPTION.-This does not apply to cases in which the short despatch of any bag or bags is duly explained by the dispatching RMS Office or section, on the relevant mail list, and an inland air mail delivery bill, as required by Rule 45 (1) of Postal Manual, Volume-VII, and on the relevant inland air mail delivery bill as required vide Rule 76/2 of Postal Manual, Volume-V.
(b) One or more bags lost, stolen or destroyed by fire, etc.
( c) A bag entered in the mail list and an inland air mail delivery bill (i) but not received or (ii) one or more bags received in excess of the number entered.
(d) A due mail, registered or parcel list not received or received missent.
immediate report by telegraph should be made to he account office and to the Inspector of Post Offices concerned, a copy of the telegram being sent by post to the Superintendent of Post Offices of the Division.
NOTE 1. -?When a Post Office or Mail Office happens to be I the same station as the officer to whom an irregularity has to be reported, the telegraph should not be used if it is practicable to employ other means of communication such as telephone, fax, etc., if available without extra expenses or loss of time.
NOTE 2. - In case where non-receipt of an article or document has been communicated by telegraph, its subsequent receipt or discovery should also be communicated to the officers concerned, by telegraph, telephone or fax whichever mode is easily available as soon as it is received or traced.
NOTE 3. -Should an overseer, runner or Village Postman report to a Postal Office any damage to a telegraph line, an immediate report of the nature and position of accident should be made to the nearest telegraph office by service postcard or otherwise. Combined office should be guided in such cases by the rules for such offices in the POSTAL MANUAL, VOLUME-VI.
NOTE 4. - When an irregularity is committed by a branch office, the same should be communicated to the branch office by telegraph in plain language instead of in code language. Care should be taken to see that the telegram is worded as briefly as possible.
(6) On the occurrence of any of the irregularities mentioned in this rule, a careful enquiry should be immediately made and the responsibility for the irregularities which necessitated the issue of the telegram, should be fixed. The official or officials through whose default or negligence the irregularities occurred, should be appropriately dealt with by the punishing authority on the merits of each case.
145. Record of irregularities.-(1) Each Post Office and, in the large Post Offices, each department of the office should keep an Error Book in the prescribed from, while each Sorting Assistant in the RMS should keep a similar book called the rough notebook. Every irregularity, serious or petty committed by any member of the establishment of an office or section or noticed to have been committed by any other office or section in connection with the preparation, receipt or despatch of mails or any other postal duties or any articles or documents relating thereto, should be recorded at the time, as briefly as possible, in one or other of these books by the official noticing the irregularity, special care being taken to bring to notice by this means, cases of mis-sending and mis-direction of articles.
NOTRE.-In the RMS, the rough notebook should also be used for the purpose of recording unusual incidents noticed and the entries in the books should subsequently8 be used by the Head Sorting Assistant in writing up the daily report of the set concerned.
apply to cases where a special report to a specified officer in prescribed. Reports of irregularities which are not of an urgent or serious character should be kept together in a bundle and at the end of a week the Superintendent should sort them out and send them on to the office for which they are intended, all the reports for same office being enclosed in the same cover. If the number of reports received by a Superintendent by very large, the action stated above should be taken twice a week.
NOTE.- In a sub-office, all those items which, in Head Offices, are entered in the Postmaster’s Order Book, must be recorded in the Error Book. The Sub-Postmaster must keep a record in the Error Book of all complaints made by the public and the original complaints should, after acknowledgement, be sent to the Superintendent with any remarks that may be necessary.
146. Facsimile impressions of signature.-In all cases where, under, the rules of the Department, a person is required to sign a receipt or an acknowledgement for a postal article delivered, or to affix his signature to any other document in connection with the posting or delivery a postal article, or to a postal article itself, the facsimile impression of his signature on the document or article, made by means of a stamp, should be accepted as a sufficient compliance with the rule; provided, of course that there is no reason to suspect that the stamp has been misused.
EXCEPTION 1. -this rule does not apply to the signing of documents by postal officials in their official capacity. Facsimile stamps for such a purpose are not allowed.
EXCEPTION 2. -this rule does not apply to the signing of money orders vouchers and receipts and acknowledgements for insured articles. Facsimile stamps should not be accepted on such receipts and acknowledgements.
(2) When an application for the recall of an article, or an alteration/correction of address of an article, is received by a Pot Office from the sender or an agent authorized by the sender in this behalf, the procedure described below should be followed:
(a) Fee at the rate prescribed form time to time for both the inland postal article and foreign postal article, as the case may be should be taken from the applicant and converted into postage stamps which should then be affixed to the application and obliterated with the date-stamp of the office.
NOTE.-In the case of official letters and articles, the prescribed fee will be realized by means of service postage stamps which should be affixed to the application for he re-delivery of the postal article or alteration or correction thereon.
(b) The Postmaster/Head Sorting Assistant has to search for the letter in his office. If it is traced, a remark “recalled article for re-delivery to the sender” is to be made and is to be dispatched to the delivery P.O. (with reference to the senders address on the article) by service registered post. The delivery PO, on receipt of such article with application will satisfy that the applicant is the sender of the article and then deliver it.
(c ) If the article is not traced in the office, the P.M./HAS will take a declaration form the applicant that he would pay the telegraph/telephone charges for contacting the Post office of delivery (as per the addressee’s address on the article) to stop delivery to the addressee and return it to the PO serving the sender. If the applicant is willing for this, the PM/HAS will issue telegram/contact over phone the delivery Post Office with a request to stop delivery of he letter to the addressee and return it to the sender. The application given for the recall will be forwarded to the normal delivery PO of the sender with advice to wait for the article to be return from the destination and with information that the destination Post Office has been contacted by telegram/over phone.
the article is a registered one , the cover in which it is placed should not be separately registered, but the number and date of the registered article should be noted on the cover, which should be treated merely as a protecting over and should be addressed as above.
(b) If the office of delivery receives an intimation from the office of posting that a request for alteration/correction of address has been received, the office of delivery should detain the article in question in the manner indicated in 2 (b)and on receipt of the sanction from the Competent Authority, alter/correct the address and delivery it if the revised address is served by it or forward it to the revised destination, as the case may be.
(4) In the case of an inward foreign article if the request is received by the office of exchange before the article in question has left that office, the officer-incharge of that office should take necessary action for issue of sanction, and the article should either be returned to the country of origin or the address thereon c orrected by the office of exchange it-self, as the case may be. If the article has been dispatched by the office of
exchange to the office of delivery, the request received by the office of exchange from the foreign country should be forwarded to the first class Postmaster or the Senior Superintendent/Superintendent of the Post Offices controlling the office of delivery for issue of necessary sanction. On receipt of the sanction, the Postmaster of the office of delivery should return the article to the office of exchange through which the article was received for delivery or correct the address, as the case may be. The office of exchange should obtain the concurrence of the Customs Department for recall or alteration of address in the case of articles which are under Customs examination or which have been assessed to duty.
(5) (a) The applications for the recall of articles or alteration/correction of the address thereon, with the fee converted into postage stamps and affixed to them, should be kept on record for one year (eighteen months in the case of foreign articles) and then destroyed.
NOTE.-In the case of official letters and articles, the prescribed fee will be realized by means of service postage stamps which should be affixed to the application for the re-delivery of the postal article.
(b) If the article is in the office, the Postmaster should immediately take possession of it and place it in a cover superscribed :recalled article addressed to (name and address). Sanction applied for on (date)”. If the article has already been dispatched, the Postmaster should at once ask the office of destination or, in the case of a foreign article, the office of foreign exchange not to deliver the article to the addressee or send it on the destination. In making such requests, care should be taken to communicate full particulars of the article, to enable it to be correctly identified in the office of destination or office of foreign exchange.
(c ) On receipt of sanction from the first class Postmaster should or Senior Superintendent/Superintendent to return the article to the sender, the Postmaster should, if the article is in his office, have it delivered under receipt to the sender or to some person authorized in this behalf by the sender in writing. In the case of a registered article, the sender’s receipt should be taken on a copy of eh form of receipt ordinarily signed by the addressees of such an article. The original receipt granted to the sender for the article when it was posted should be taken back and filed with the other receipt.
(6) In the RMS Offices, applications for the recall of the articles or for the alteration/correction of address of articles should be dealt with in accordance with the following procedure:
(a) In the case of Mail Office, the Head Sorting Assistant or Mail Agent should forward the application from the sender with the prescribed fee to the local Postmaster for disposal in accordance with the above instructions and at the same time, report that he is satisfied that the application is the sender of the article or an agent authorized by the sender in this behalf. If the article is in the offic e, it should be sent in a cover superscribed “recalled article addressed to (name and address)” or “Article for
alteration/correction of address addressed to (name and address)” along with the documents mentioned above. If the article has already been dispatched, the Head Sorting Assistant or Mail Agents should at once address the office of delivery or the office of exchange in India concerned in the case of an article addressed to a foreign country, in the manner prescribed above for Postmasters. He should at the same time intimate that this has been done to the Postmaster to whom the application is sent. The applicant should be informed of the action taken and advised to address further communication on the subject to the Postmaster concerned.
149. Director -General’s Circulars.-(1) Circulars are ordinarily issued by he Director -General once of month, but if in any month there is no material for a circular, none is issued that month.