PERSONAL DUTIES

1. Head of a Circle. – The term Head of a Circle means the chief officer in a Post and Telegraph Circle and includes Postmaster General and Directors, Posts and Telegraphs in independent charge of circles. Senior Superintendents, Superintendents, Inspectors, Postmasters and all other officers in a Circle are subordinate to the Head of the Circle. The administrative and financial powers of the Head of a Circle. The administrative and financial powers of the Head of a Circle are defined in the Postal Manual, Volume III, and in the Schedule of Financial Powers, respectively.

NOTE 1.-The word “superintendent” wherever it occurs in the rules includes the “Senior Superintendent”.

NOTE 2. – In the case of Telephone districts and Posts and Telegraphs workshops the General Managers are the Heads of Circles and exercises the powers of a Head of Circle as defined in P & T Manual Volume III.

NOTE 3. – In the case of Army Postal Service the Dir. Army Postal Services exercises all the powers of a Head of Circle mentioned in this Volume.

2. Inspection of stock depots. – The Head of a Circle or the Director Postal Services should carry out the first inspection of the Stock Depot in the half-year ending 31^st September. During this inspection the physical verification of all articles of stores and stock should also be carried out, the assistance of the Assistant Postmaster-General or the Assistant Director, incharge of the Stock Depot, and of the Inspectors attached to the Circle Office being utilised, if necessary.

The second inspection of the Stock Depot for the half-year ending 31^st March should be carried out by the Assistant Postmaster-General or the Assistant Director, incharge of the Stock Depot. During this second inspection it should be seen that all orders passed in the course of the first inspection in that financial year have been carried out and that discrepancies noticed during the physical verification have been reconciled, in the case of minor Circles the first inspection and the physical verification of articles of stores and stock during the half-year ending 30^th September will be carried out by the Head of the Circle or a Deputy Director.

“NOTE – In respect of the three Central Forms Stores viz. the Postal Stores, Forms and Seals, Aligarh, Postal Stores Depot, Calcutta and Postal Stores Depot, Nasik Road, the physical verification of forms shall be carried out during the course of the second inspection of the Stores Depot in March every year. During the first inspection for the subsequent year, it should be seen that all orders passed in the previous year, in regard to the physical verification of forms have been carried out and the discrepancies in this regard noticed during the second inspection have been reconciled.”

2-A. The Head of a Circle will inspect his own office once a year and submit the Inspection Report to the Director General, Posts. After six months a further complete report indicating the action taken on various paras, where action is called for will be sent to the Directorate, and if there is any para on which action could not be completed within that period the reasons for the same will be indicated in the report. The office of the Director of Postal Life Insurance will be inspected once a year by the Senior Deputy Director General or the Deputy Director General in-charge of Postal Services, besides the inspection by the Director himself.

3. Visits to offices, sections and mail lines. – (1) The head offices and principal mail lines, as also sorting mail offices and sections in the circle should be visited by the Head of the Circle as often as he conveniently can. At each visit to a Presidency or first class head office, the administrative work of the postmaster should be examined with reference to the standard inspection questions relating thereto. A Postmaster General should, if possible visit every station which is the headquarters of a district at least once in two years. While visiting the headquarters of a Superintendent, R.M.S. he should carefully scrutinise the accounts work of the head record office. It is important that the Head of the Circle should be personally acquainted with the leading district or ordinates. He should examine the working in all its branches of every office or section he visits, enquire whether the convenience of the public is met in every legitimate way and, pay particular attention to the improvement of sorting arrangements.

(2) Important sub-offices should be visited whenever possible and the efficiency of the rural delivery should be tested by visiting small offices, as opportunity occurs, in the course of a tour.

1. Disposal of copies of order book remarks. – The Head of a Circle should persona lly dispose of all copies of order book remarks submitted to him in respect of inspections and verifications of accounts. He should also, at times, call for and examine the inspection or verification notes on record in Superintendents’ offices and also the copies of order book remark submitted by Inspectors to Superintendents.
1. Examination of Diaries. – The Head of a Circle must personally examine the diaries of Superintendents (Genl-1) so as to check idleness and unduly long halts and, in the R.M.S. also to see that they spend a sufficient time in mail vans and mail offices visited. He should specially see that Superintendents do not allow their inspection and verifications to fall into arrears, and should take care that inspection is not rendered unnecessarily expensive by officers returning (unless for urgent reasons) to headquarters before finishing the inspection of all the offices, sections or mail offices in the quarter to which they had proceeded.
2. NOTE – In major Circles, the Head of the Circle may, at his description, permit the Director of Postal Services to scrutinise the weekly diaries.
2. Examination of Copies of Punishment Registers. – The Head of the Circle must examine the copies of punishment registers (APP 32(a)) submitted by subordinate offices so as to keep a close watch on the punishments awarded and to ensure that officials are not kept under suspension unnecessarily.
3. Control over pension work. – The Head of a Circle must keep a constant watch on the pension work of the circle. To this end, he must personally scrutinise the consolidated return of pending pension and gratuity cases compiled each month in his office from the similar returns (Est-52) submitted to him by subordinate officers and should take immediate steps to accelerate the completion of cases which the consolidated return shows to have been pending for three months or more. He should also, from time to time, test the completeness and accuracy of the return by reference to the cases themselves when these come before him, and make it the rule that, except in unavoidable circumstances, no pension or gratuity case should finally leave his office for

the orders of the Director-General without his knowledge and without his signature to the papers on which this is required. In the case of subordinates appointed by him, the Head of the Circle should take special precaution that their pensions or gratuities are sanctioned by him, and that the papers on which his signature is necessary are also signed by him.

NOTE. – In a circle in which a Director of Postal Services is appointed to help the Postmaster-General, the duties prescribed by this rule may be performed by the former.

8. Inspection of Returned Letter Offices. – (1) The Heads of the Circle or Director Postal Services must inspect the returned Letter Office in their circle once every year during the period ending of 30^th September, in accordance with the standard questions. In addition to this, the Asstt. Postmaster-General/Asstt. Director Postal Services incharge of the period ending 31^st March each year in accordance with the standard question.

(2) The Head of the Circle and the Director of Postal Services should also pay frequent visits to the R.L.O., and satisfy themselves in a general way that work is being properly conducted and that the office is supplied with every available book on publication for reference.

9.Enquiries with local officers:-When the Head of the Circle or any Director visits the Headquarters of a division he should make it a point to meet the Commissioner and find out from him whether the officers are giving satisfactory service. He may similarly call on the District officers when he visits their Headquarters during course of official duties. Postmasters, Divisional Engineers. Superintendents of Post offices and R.M.S should be encouraged to keep in close touch with collectors and subordinate provincial and local officers.

10.verification of balances of head offices under presidency Postmasters:-The balances of Mumbai, Kolkata,and Chennai G.P.Os and of Delhi H.O should be verified four times a year in accordance with the standard questions. One verification should be performed by the Director Postal Services and the remaining three by the City superintendent of Post Offices. In every case where the verification is performed by an officer of a status lower than that of the Postmaster, he should confine himself to the standard questions Nos.1 to 21 given in part A of the Head Office verification report of the collection of Post Office Inspection Report Forms.

11.Responsibility for Postal arrangements at head quarters:-The Head of the Circle is personally responsible that proper postal arrangements for the public are made at his head quarters, and should therefore, make himself thoroughly acquainted with the method and arrangement of work at the headquarters office or offices.

MISCELLANEOUS RULES

12. Assistant Postmasters -General – (1) Assistant Postmasters-General are officers attached to the office of the Head of a Circle in order to assist him personally in inspection, investigation and supervision. These officers, should, therefore, be freely deputed away from headquarters, particularly in serious cases of robbery, abstraction, or fraud, and not be allowed to degenerate into mere office assistants.

(2) Inspectors also are attached to the office of the Head of a Circle for the performance of similar duties.

NOTE – The term “Assistant Postmaster-General”, wherever used in this Volume, includes a Personal Assistant, an Assistant Director of Postal Services unless there is anything to the contrary in the context.

13. Registers and records in a Circle Office. – (1) The following registers and records should be maintained in the office of the Head of a Circle who should from time to time satisfy himself that they are kept up to date :

(1)

Register (in form Capt. 1) of complaints.

(2)

Register of highway robberies.

(3)

Register of absconders in Post Office cases

(4)

Register of contingent expenditure.

(5)

Register (in form Bgt.-14) of budget allotments for fluctuating contingent charges.

(6)

Register of lines and stages (M-40).

(7)

Register of allotments for minor works.

(8)

Register showing hours for despatch and delivery of mails at head offices.

(9)

Complete sorting lists of all head offices and of sub and branch offices in direct communication with the R.M.S.

(10)

Register of registered newspapers.

(11)

Register of policies assigned.

(12)

Register of permanent advance for contingencies.

(13)

Register of Railway-Postal rolling stock.

(14)

Register of Railway Bills accepted.

(15)

Register of Railway Bills for Postal special trains accepted.

(16)

Complete sorting lists of all offices and sections in the circle and of all post offices in direct communication with the R.M.S.

(17)

Register of weighment system dispatches (M-162).

(18)

Register of losses and frauds.

(19)

Register showing the result of periodical reviews of Post Offices opened in rural areas.

(20)

Register of demand notes for Broadcast receiver licences.

(21)

Stock Register of BRL forms received from the Press.

(22)

Register of Surcharges on B.R.L.’s waived.

(23)

Register of non-renewal of B.R.L.’s.

(24)

Register of information received regarding unlicensed sets and recoveries of surcharge on them.

(25)

Special roster.

(26)

Rotation Register.

(27)

Register of petitions withheld by the Head of the Circle.

(28)

Register of Volunteers for field Service.

(29)

Register of leases of rented buildings.

(30)

Register of message revenue figures of guaranteed Combined offices.

(31)

Register of lands and buildings.

(32)

Subsidiary register of lands and buildings.

(33)

Register of court attachments.

(34)

Rotational Registers.

(35)

Register of T.A. Bills.

(36)

Register of sanctioned van accommodation.

(37)

Register of statistical memoranda received.

(38)

Register of Railway Card passes.

(2) Where no form is laid down, the Head of each Circle should prescribe the form to be used in his office.

14. Registers of Complaints. -(1) (i) The register of complaints should be maintained in manuscript in the following proforma :

PROFORMA OF THE REGISTER OF COMPLAINTS C.P.T.-1

The Register should contain a record of all complaints received by the Head of the Circle from the public direct or transferred for disposal by the Directorate or by other Circles on which action is proposed to be taken by the Circle office itself. Complaints which are transferred to subordinate units for disposal should not be entered in the register as these would be included in the registers of the units concerned. Similarly, complaints on which reports are called for by the D.-G. should not be entered in this register. Record of such cases should be kept separately in a correspondence register.

(ii)

Separate registers should be maintained for complaints relating to postal, telegraph and telephone enquiries.

(2)

Complaints which are well-grounded should be recorded against the office or section concerned, whether it is in the circle receiving the complaint or not. If the office or section against which the case should be recorded is situated in another circle, its name should be reported to the circle concerned to be noted in the register there.

(3)

If from the register of complaints it is found that blame has been imputed to a particular office or section repeatedly, the matter should be made the subject of special investigation.

(4)

(i) A monthly abstract showing the number of complaints as given in the statement of complaints received from Supdts. of Post Offices and First Class Postmasters should be maintained in the following form, categorywise.

TOTAL

(ii) From the abstraction, a monthly summary of the complaints received in the Circle should be prepared in the following form.