OFFICE MANUAL OF THE BOARD OF REVENUE

CHAPTER—I

Board of Revenue Constitution

 

1. Functions-—The functions of the Board of Revenue are defined by regulation I of 1803 (Appendix I). Under the Madras Revenue Commissioner's Act, 1849 (Appendix II) a Member of the Board of Revenue is empowered to perform in any of the districts of this State all or any of the duties which, by the General Regulations and Laws at present in force, belong to the Board of Revenue collectively. The Board at present transacts its busi­ness in the following branches :

(i) Land Revenue and Settlements.

(ii) Excise and Prohibition.

(iii) Commercial Taxes.

(iv) Civil Supplies.

(v) Endowments.

(vi) Registration and Stamps (Telangana Districts only).

(vii) Customs (Internal).

(viii) Court of Wards.

2. Powers—The duties discharged by the Board are (a) statu­tory, and (fa) Executive under orders of the Government from time to time. Some of the important enactments under which the Board exercises statutory powers are given in Appendix III. The functions of the Board of Revenue can be generally brought under the following items :

(i) Hearing of stautory appeals.

(ii) Disposal of appeals, (revision petition), etc., from Government servants in respect of disciplinary matters.

(iii) Original disposals in certain matters (of assignments, alienations, etc.) which may or may not corres­pond to certain prescribed values.

(iv) Report on projects and schemes relating to the sub­jects under the control of the Board.

(v) General consultation in all policy and administrative matters.

(vi) The preliminary selection of various grades of officers under its control and their close supervision.

(vii) General supervision and control of the District Administration including inspection of Collectors' Offices, control of expenditure and control of revenue.

The Board has also been delegated with financial and other powers u.pto certain limits in certain administrative matters. Some of these powers are shown in Appendix IV.

3.  Distribution of subjects.—Subjects are reserved for disposal by the Full Board, the collective Board by two Members and by a single Member.    The reservation of business for disposal by Members is subject to change from time to time and such reserva­tion and distribution adopted by the Board in consultation and with the approval of Government is notified by the Board under section 2 of the Madras Board of Revenue Act, 1894.

4.  The Secretary of the Branch concerned (or the Assistant Secretary of the Branch concerned where there is no Secretary) exercises general supervision and control over the staff under him and is responsible for seeing that members of the staff do the work allotted to them efficiently and expeditiously.    It is his duty to take efficient steps for the prompt despatch of business in his Branch.

Note.—"Secretary" will be understood to mean and include Ex-officio Secretary, Ex-officio Additional Secretary, Joint Secretary, Additional Joint Secretary, Ex-officio Joint Secretary and Assistant Secretary or First Assistant as applicable with reference to the context.

The following general principles will be observed in the disposal of papers:

(i) All appeal petitions and petitions to the Board must be circulated to the Member or Members concerned, save in case of intermediate or routine references.

(ii) If an order has to be passed by the Board under an Act or a statutory rule, the file should be circulated to the Mem­ber or Members concerned for passing the order.

(iii) References from Collectors regarding the application of executive orders or interpretations of statutory Rules may stop with the Secretary concerned, if the matter lies been already decided by the Board and that decision need only be communi­cated or applied; but if otherwise, the file should be submitted to the Member or Members concerned for orders,

(iv) Applications for stay orders shall be dealt witii ill the following manner :

(a)  where there exists statutory provision for such stay and where the case necessitates the issue of such order, the hie should be submitted to the Member concerned for orders;

(b)  where there   is   no   such   statutory   provision   the normal rule will be to refuse stay, such orders being issued by the Secretary; and

(c)  where there is no statutory provision but stay in war­ranted   by   the   circumstances,   after   obtaining   the   concerned Member's orders stay may be granted, under specific report to Government.

(v) When the issue of an order is extremely urgent, and for any reason the Member concerned is not available:

(a)  if the order be under any section of law or rule requiring that such order be passed by the Board, the Secretary shall take the Orders of the available Member, Junior next in line to the concerned Member (and in case of the junior most Member only, the next available Member senior to him).

(b)  if the order be administrative and capable of issue on precedents only, the Secretary may issue such order in antici­pation of the approval of the concerned Member; and

(c)  in case of any doubt, the procedure at (a) shall be followed;

provided that when such action is taken the approval of the Member concerned will be sought at the earliest possible moment.

 

CHAPTER-II

Definitions

 

5. Arising reference—Any reference issued from the Board's Office which originates a file is called an 'arising reference'.

6.  Branch.—Is the term used to denote one of the self-contained units of the Board dealing with a specified category of subjects, viz., Civil Supplies Branch, Commercial Taxes Branch, Excise Branch, etc.

7.  Case—Case consists of the current file, draft, note file and any previous papers and books put up for reference.

8.  Circulation.—The submission of files to the Board Mem­bers and other Gazetted Officers for information or orders is termed circulation.

9.  Current.—A communication received in one section of the Board from outside the Office or from another branch of the Board and which is allotted a number in the recipient section until its disposal is called a 'current' and the number itself is called a current No. or briefly 'C.No."

10.  Current file.—Consists, at the outset, of the official paper or papers under disposal to which are subsequently added the office copies of any intermediate official references and the replies to such references, the whole being arranged chronologically.

11.  Disposal.—Is a statement of the final decision of the Board on any matter submitted for its information or orders. The following are the forms of disposals: —

L. Dis.,                                                     

F Dis.,

R. Dis.,

Resolution, in Routine and Miscellaneous.

L. Dis.—Means 'Lodged disposal' usually accorded to ordinary papers the retention of which will be sufficient for three years. Papers which are merely lodged are also treated in same manner as L. Dis. papers.

F. pis-—The filing, in regard to papers such as G.Os. and B.Ps., Periodicals and General Record files is a method of dis­posal. The files are retained for the prescribed periods and intended to keep in Records, the correspondence relating to a particular variety of subjects.

R. Dis.—These contain orders of the Secretary in respect of appointments, confirmations, promotions and punishments, etc., pertaining to the office establishments. These are retained permanently.

Resolution—Routine—This disposal is given to a file which is of reasonable importance and the retention of which will be necessary at least for seven years. These disposals are indexed and arranged in bundles for each year.

Resolution—Miscellaneous-—This disposal is given to papers which have to be retained permanently and which are of a lasting value. These disposals are stitched in a docket sheet and retained permanently and are also indexed and arranged like the Routine Board's proceedings. The appellation 'Press' added to either of the Routine or Misc., proceedings indicates that the proceedings in question have been printed.

12.  D.O.   correspondence.—Correspondence  is  called   demi-official when officers  correspond  with  each  other or with  any member  of  the   public,   on  administrative  or  official   matters, without the formality of official procedure and with a view to the interchange or communication  of opinion  or  information which it may be considered undesirable to place on official record in the proceedings of the Board.

13.  Drafting.—Is   the   preparation   of   any    communication which it is proposed to issue by, on behalf of, or under the direc­tion of the Board.

14.  Enclosure.—A communication or a statement or a plan, sketch or other document which is attached to or accompanies another communication to supplement or elucidate the point, intention or orders conveyed in the latter is called an 'enclosure' to it.

15.  Flagging.—Is the process of attaching to the top of papers put up for reference in a case, slips printed with letters of the alphabet or Arabic or Roman numbers, for easy reference.

16.  Issue.—Is the term used to denote the process of copying or printing and despatching communications intended for any person or authority-

17. Linked case-—One file is linked with another when 3 reference to the file or any paper in the one is necessary for the disposal of the other.

18. New Case—A paper which is not connected with a pen­ding case in the office or one which originates in the office or is started under a note or demi-official letter of a Member or Officer of the Bpard is treated as a 'New Case'.

19. Note-—A note is written to facilitate the disposal of a case. It may contain a precis of the previous papers, a statement of facts reported and proposals made in the current file, the arguments for and against any measure proposed and suggestions as to the action to be taken.

20. Note file.—Consists of the notes with unofficial reference and replies thereto.

21. Official correspondence.—Correspondence is called 'Official' when one Government Officer, as such, addresses or is addressed by another Government Officer or by any public body or private individual and his writing is in accordance with certain fixed rules as to form, matter and procedure, and with the inten­tion that such correspondence may be the official record regarding the question discussed.

22. Old case—A reply to a reference issued from the Office, or a paper which though not a reply of that nature has for any other reason to be filed with a current already pending in the office is called an ('old case').

23.  Put-up papers—Means the previous order or other papers connected with or bearing on the subject of a current under consi­deration and put up in the case with the current.

24.  Referencing.—Is the process of putting up in a case pre­vious correspondence, laws, rules, reports, etc., required for its disposal, flagging them and indicating their presence by reference in the margin at the portion of the current file or the note file in which they are mentioned or quoted.

25.  Registry—A paper is said to be 'registered' when it is given a 'current number' and entered with an abstract in a receipt register known as the personal register.

26. Section.—Is a minor division of a branch of the Board consisting of a superintendent and clerks or typists under him.

27.  Sectional notes.—Are notes written  on each  of several issues arising out  of a  single subject  where  orders have to  be obtained separately on each of such issues.   They are distinguished from the main note which treats the subject as a whole-

28.  Routine note.—A note for the elucidation of a point aris­ing in a case which an officer wants to be cleared up or on matters of an ephemiral nature, such as reminders, delays in office etc., which will not go into permanent record is termed a Routine Note.

29.  Tappal.—All communications received in the Office which are official, unofficial or demi-official are until registry known as "Tappal"—(for details please see Chapter IV).

30- Unofficial correspondence.—When it is proposed to obtain in any case, the concurrence opinion or remarks of another branch or section of the Board or any particular officer the concerned file will be sent in original and the concurrence opinion or remarks so obtained will not form part of the official proceedings. This mode of referring a paper or a case and obtaining a reply is called "Un­official correspondence".

CHAPTER III

Office Organisation

31. (a) The office is controlled by a Secretary belonging to the I.A.S. cadre. He is assisted by a Joint Secretary and an additonal Joint Secrtary of the Collector's grade and also Assistant Secreta ries including the First Assistant.

(b)  The office consists of the Land Revenue and Settlement Branch and other branches as detailed in para i above.    Each branch is further divided into sections and a group of sections is placed under the control of an Assistant Secretary or the First Assistant.   The sections in each branch are arranged according to convenience and the detailed distribution of subjects and staff among them will vary from time to time.

(c)  The Assistant Secretaries, under the overall direction of the Secretary concerned, exercise control over the sections placed in their charge.   It is the duty of the Assistant Secretaries to check any tendency to delay.   They may pass final orders approving pro posals of routine nature on set precedents or requiring formal sanc tion of Government or submit files direct to the Members in respect of subjects specifically allotted to them with reference to the instructions issued from time to time, provided that where the files, at any stage, involve general policy whether important or not, they shall be submitted only through the concerned Secretary.

(d)  First Assistant.—Corresponds    in    respect    of subjects in his charge to "Assistant Secretary".    Any reference hereinafter to First Assistant shall be taken to include such officers as are nominated to be in charge of routine administration.

32. Non-gazetted staff—The non-gazetted staff consists of Superintendents, Upper Division Clerks, Lower Division Clerks, Stenographers, Typists, Attenders and Peons and other Last grade servants. For purposes of convenience each branch is sub-divided into sections, each section consisting of 2 or more clerks with a Superintendent as the section head. The Superintendent is res ponsible for all the files relating to the subjects allotted to the clerk under him. He is directly responsible to the Officer under whom he works for the efficient and expeditious despatch of busi ness in all stages in his section. The training of the clerks under him is one of his principal functions. He must see that the clerks pay proper attention to their work and that they do not waste time and paper on needless noting and correspondence. He should also ensure that really emergent matters are given immediate attention. Towards this purpose he must overhaul each seat in his section at least once a week ensuring that all papers received  have been brought to account in the personal Register and that no paper is held pending unduly. He will not merely superintend but will himself undertake to deal with the more difficult or important papers taking such assistance from clerks as he may find necessary. He is responsible for the accuracy of the notes and drafts proceeding from his section, lie is not expected to express views or to suggest what orders should be passed on a case except when there is a clear precedent or that case is of a routine nature

or the orders necessarily follow from some provision of law or rules. He shuld check the correctness of facts stated in any note or draft which may have been added to the file after it was submitted tor orders as soon as it returns to the section, and berore the draft is issued. He maintains discipline in his section and sees to it that his orders or instructions are not disputed nor dis­regarded by his clerks.

33.  Clerks, Steno-typists and Typists.—The clerks are divided into two classes :

          (i) Upper Division Clerks, and

          (ii) Lower Division Clerks.

The main duties of a Lower Division Clerk posted in a section are to 'reference' the communication properly and to ass;st the Superintendent or the U. D. C. in dealing with cases relat.ng to the section. The Lower division clerks and typists are exeptced to do work or a routine and mechanical nature, such as maintaining the prescribed registers, typ.ng drafts, fair-coping, despatching and indexing.

Steno-typists do shorthand work for the Secretary or other gazetted officers and such other items of work as are entrusted to them.

34.  Office management.—In the Land Revenue and Settle­ment Brach 'First Assistant' and in the other branches Assistant Secretaries or Superintendents in charge of establishment attend to all office matters and supervise the daily running of the Office. Their main functions are supervision of the record room, library, copy application work, cash keeper's section and the current sec­tion.    Matters relating to  office  discipline,  appointments and grant of leave to non-gazetted establishment in the office are also attended to by them.

35.  General Discipline—While in office all members of the establishment must be have in a quiet and dignified manner.  They must address the other members of the establishment courteously. They must attend to their woik and not waste their time.   They must try to maintain perfect silence and if they have occasion to talk, they must do so in a low voice so as not to disturb others. They are particularly warned against the heinous offence of divulg ing to outsiders or to other members of the establishment any intormation (whether expressly marked confidential or not) that may have come to their knowledge in their official capacity. If any vakil, petitioner or other private person applies to them for any such information, they will refer him politely to the Assistant Secretary concerned. They must of course not accept any presents or remunerations from any visitor, party or other person resorting to the office on business nor lay themselves under obligation to such persons in any other way. They must not have recourse to anonymous petitions or letters in order to ventilate their grievances or supposed grievances. If any member of the office establishment thinks that he has any grievance, he may represent it to the Secretary in person. The Secretary will be prepared to receive visitors who wish to see him on official matters on any working day during office hours; but if clerks and others wish to make representations about their claims to promotion and such matters, it is more convenient that they should do so in writing when their contentions can be examined at leisure with reference to the records. Longwinded verbal representations are apt rather to confuse and irritate the officer addressed (who is unlikely to be able to remember all the circumstances of the case or to discuss it without records) than to benefit the person addressing him. It is not desirable to permit any collection of subscriptions for reli gious, charitable, etc., purposes by individuals or groups or persons on their own behalf or on behalf of associations in the office premises since such a practice will not be consistent with the atmosphere of discipline and decorum that should prevail in the office.

36.  Tidiness and Cleanliness of the Office—A waste-paper basket must be kept within a convenient distance of every member of the staff.    Waste paper must be thrown into these and not on the floor.   Stationery and records must be put away tidily in the Clerk's almirahs, and not left lying on tables and on the tops of almirahs exposed to dust.    All rubbish and obsolete forms or publications must be cleared away, not to litter the office.   The office and the officers' rooms must be properly swept and dusted daily.    The office duffadar is responsible for seeing that this is done and neglect in this respect will be met with severe punish ment.

37.  Attendance—

(a) Hours of Attendance.—All members of the establishment should attend office from 11-00 a.m. to 5-00 p.m. on all weeks days except recognised holidays. Peons attached to Officers' rooms and sections should be in office by 1000 a.m. and see that

officers' rooms or section rooms to which they are attached are properly cleaned and kept tidy. It is no gainsaying that Heads of sections must set an example to others by themselves attending office punctually. An interval of half an hour between i-oo p.m. and 1-30 p.m. will be allowed for lunch on all week days, but none should leave the office premises normally for taking their lunch elsewhere without permission.

(b) Attendance Register.—An Attendance Register in the prescribed form will be maintained for all the sections under an Assistant Secretary. The Clerks and section Heads must initial it as soon as they come to office. The Register will be closed 10 minutes after the office opens and will be placed before the Assist­ant Secretary concerned with the casual leave and late attendance reports by their personal clerks or other section clerks to be nomi­nated by the Assistant Secretaries with an abstract of the Attend­ance Register in the form given in Appendix by 11-15 a.m. The Assistant Secretary will peruse the Attendance Register so placed before him, approve the abstract and submit it to the Secretary in the Land Revenue and Settlement Branch and to the concerned Ex-officio Secretary or Ex-officio Joint Secretary in regard to other branches, by 11-30 a.m. positively sending at the same time the Casual Leave and late permission reports to the First Assistant. It shall be the responsibility of the Assistant Secretaries maintaining the Attendance Registers to see that the 'time' is kept up.

(c)  Late Attendance.—If any clerk does not attend office punctually, the word "late" will be entered against his name in the column for that date; if he comes later on, the hour at which he arrives should be entered by the Personal Clerks maintaining the Attendance Register.   On the first of each month, the Attend­ance Registers will be submitted to the Secretary, along with a statement showing the details of late attendance for the previous month for orders.    If the late attendance is habitual, such punish­ment as may be considered necessary, in the interests of discipline, may be awarded.

(d)  Forfeiture of casual leave-—For every two days of late attendance without permission, a day's casual leave will be forfeited aiidthe late permission that can be granted to an individual who npplies for it before hand, will be upto 12-30 p.m. only.    Any day on which a member of the Establishment attends office after 12-30 p.m. but before 2-00 p.m. whether with or without permission will be treated as  half a  day's  casual  leave.    Attendance  after 2-00 p.m. will be treated as full day's casual leave.

(e)  Work out -of office hours and on Holidays.—Clerks and Superintendents are on no account to take papers out of the office in order to work at home; without the express permission of the Assistant Secretary or the Secretary in each case.  As a general

rule, work on Sundays and other public holidays is prohibited and no papers must be submitted to the Members on these days except really urgent papers. As far as possible returns due on a Sunday or other holiday will be submitted on the day before such Sunday or holiday. In submitting papers to the Members on such days, the Assistant Secretary must exercise the utmost discretion.

38. Urgent work on holidays—On all holidays skeleton staff including a telephone operator, headed by a Superintendent, will be on special duty from 10-30 a-m. to 5-00 p.m. for the disposal of urgent work in each branch. Care should be taken to put the turns in such a way that no single clerk is required to attend the office on more than one holiday during a group of holidays. A Government servant on turn duty on a holiday may be granted another day in lieu as compensatory leave. But not more than 10 such days of compensatory leave may be granted in a calendar year and no such compensatory leave can be taken after the expiry of six months from the public holiday for which it is substituted. Not more than seven such compensatory leave days may be accumulated and this limit can be reduced at the discretion of the head of the office.

39. Casual leave-—(a) Casual leave will be granted under such rules and conditions as are laid down in paragraph 5 of B.S.O. No. 131. It will not be granted on vague and general grounds such as for "urgent private affairs" or for "a certain ceremony". The purpose for which leave is required must be stated definitely, but clerks should abstain from giving unsavoury medical particu lars. Applications for leave ("including extensions of leave) must be made, and orders on them obtained before the leave is taken or the applicant is due to rejoin duty. Absence in anticipation of sanction will only be condoned if the necessity for the leave or extension could not have been foreseen. In such cases the nature of the sudden emergency must be definitely stated. Clerks dis regarding this rule will do so at their risk. When a clerk goes on casual leave he must invariably hand over any office keys in his custody to the head of his section. Applications from the heads of sections and the Personal Clerks of offices and from peons on duty with the officers, will be submitted through the officers concerned. Applications from peons must also pass through the daffadar who will endorse on the application whether the applicant can be spared. The applications of clerks and peons should be submitted to the Assistant Secretary concerned who will dispose of them after ascertaining whether the applicants are eligible for the leave.

(b) Clerks and Superintendents should specify, in their applications for the grant of casual leave whether there are any cases which are posted for hearing before the Members or whether there are any references which have to be attended to specially during the period covered by the casual leave, applied for by them. When any case is posted for hearing before the Members, the responsibility for putting up the connected records and files to the Members in time, will be on the Superintendent concerned, or the Superintendent in-charge, if the Superintendent concerned is on causal leave or deputed on other duty.

(c) Casual leave or permission of Gazetted Assistants.—The following procedure should be followed by the Assistant Secretaries and other Gazetted Assistants when they require casual leave or permission to absent themselves. The application for the grant of casual leave or permission should be addressed to the Secretary and normally sent sufficiently in advance so as to enable him to make substitute arrangements in time, to carry on special and urgent items of work during the absence. The application should be dealt with as "Special" and sent to the Secretary in a blue pad if in office, or to his personal address if sent by post or by messenger. Soon after receipt of the application, the Secretary will pass orders and also make suitable arrangements to carry on urgent work during the absence of the Gazetted Assistant. He will also inform the Officers concerned and then circulate the file to the Member or Members at head­quarters for perusal. On return from circulation the papers will be sent to the First Assistant for making necessary entries in the common casual leave register maintained for the entire office in respect of Gazetted Officers.

40. Absence due to infectious disease—Whenever a case of cholera, small-pox or other infectious disease occurs at the dwelling of any clerk or peon, he must report the fact at once to the Assistant Secretary concerned by a verbal message—not in writing (as the written report might convey infection) send to the Section head his keys and stay away from duty until further orders. The Assistant Secretary will report such cases to the Secretary and obtain his orders. In cases where no substitute is appointed and no extra cost to Government is involved, such absence will be treated as casual leave but will not count against the maximum period of such leave admissible. If, however, a substitute is neces­sary, ordinary leave debitable to the leave account of the Govern­ment servant should be granted. Disregard of this rule will be severely visited, as imperilling the health of other members of the staff.

 

CHAPTER IV

Tappals—Receipt and Distribution

41.  Receipt and circulation of Government Tappals.—Confi­dential covers and all other covers addressed to officers by name are first separated and sent to the officers concerned.   The other covers are then opened by the tappal clerk in the presence of the First Assistant   or   the   Assistant    Secretary   who is the officer in charge of the office establishment and checked with the check slips received with the tappals.   The check slips are returned to the Secretariat, after verification.    The letters are then stamped with the office date stamp (which should be kept under lock and key by the officer concerned). The letters are then put in an urgent pad and are circulated for the perusal of officers concerned. In order to ensure that the Members do not miss seeing the important references received in the tappals, when they are circu­lated, an entry should be made "for perusal m.1, M.2" on it for obtaining the initials of the Members when they are at Head­quarters. When the Members happen to be away on tour, important communications from Government may be received in the Office which, while not deserving to be called "Special" and sent urgently to camp, may be of sufficient importance to be seen by the Mem­bers as early as possible. Such cases should be put up to the Members on their return to Headquarters along with any relevant correspondence that has been initiated in respect of any of them. Government tappals of a routine nature need not be sent to camp, or put up for perusal as mentioned above. Communications from Government which are important, and which have to be treated as "Special" on which urgent action has to be taken should also be put up to Members on return, along with the correspond­ence initiated in respect of any of them, as in the cases mentioned above.

42.  Receipt   and   Circulation   of   other   Tappals.—Tappals received by post are deposited by the postal staff in the Board's Post Box, the key of which remains with the First Assistant-    The Post Box is cleared thrice a day—at 9-30 a.m., 1-30 p.m. and 4-30 p.m.    Letters put into the office letter box are similarly cleared daily.   The tappal clerk receives registered tappals, checks them with the postman's list, initials it and takes it to the First Assistant for acknowledgment.   Tappals from local officers are received by the tappal clerk throughout the day during Office hours. Those addressed to the Officers by name are sent to them. The tappal clerk opens all the other tappals in the presence of the officer in rharge of this work in the branrh eonlerned and impres-ses the office date stamp on each letter. He enters all letters and packets received by registered post and also the railway invoices in a special register in the following form : —

 

No. of the registered articles or invoices

Place of origin

From whom received

Description

Section No. and Clerk's initials

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(«)

109

Chilakalapudi

Collector, Krishna Dist.

D. Dis. No.

100 dated 4-1-1941

(suit)

A.       509

210

Anantapur

Petitioner

V.Os' Appeal

A.      1020

 

The tappal clerk also makes a note of any valuable enclosure on the currents and hands over cheques received as enclosures to the cash keeper immediately on receipt, taking the latter's acknowl­edgment on the incoming letters themselves. Petitions in the local languages of the districts the subject matter of which he is unable to understand or put up to the First Assistant who will have extracts in English put up immediately.

The procedure laid down in para 41 in respect of circulation of Government tappals should be followed in the case of circula­tion of other important tappals.

43. Distribution of tappals.—The tappal clerk then sorts the letters (including those received from Government and the letters returned after perusal by the .Gazetted Officers) sectionwise numbers the papers belonging to eacn section (either in a running serial number for the whole branch or in separate series for each section as may be prescribed in office orders) and enters the num­bers in the appropriate distribution registers. These are maintained in the following form : —

 

Distribution Register

Section

Current                  Number

Enclosure (including valuables, e.g., stamps)

Clerk's initials.

(i)

(2)

(3)

 

When he is in doubt as to which of two or more sections a paper should be assigned, he should take the oral orders of the officer concerned. He will then place the letters of each section in a pad with the distribution register and place it before the First

Assistant. The latter will initial the last entry in each register and return the letters to the tappal clerk. He will then submit the tappals for perusal of the other Assistant Secretaries concerned, if any. After their perusal, the letters will be passed on to the section concerned. The oEcers who peruse the tappals will bring to the notice of the Secretary concerned any important reference or any referende other than from the Government that demands imme­diate attention. All letters on which action has to be taken immediately on receipt—such as papers relating to floods, fire and similar calamities—should be sent immediately in urgent pads to the concerned sections through the Assistant Secretary in charge of the sections. The head of each section will carefully go through the tappals of his section and note on each paper the seat to which it belongs with any instructions which he considers necessary, regarding its disposal. Each clerk will take the papers marked for him by his superintendent enter his initials in Column 3 of the distribution register and return the register to the head of the section. The latter should verify that all entries have been accounted for and return the register with the pad to the tappal clerk after initialling the register below the last entry. The tappal clerk should make the tappals of the day ready for distribution to the sections not later than by 4-00 p.m. every day. Soon after the receipt of tappals in the Sections, the Superintendent concerned should see that the clerks in his section acknowledge the currents and hand over the register to him. The Superintendent should see that the distribution register is returned to the circulation clerk by 5-00 p.m. positively. The acknowledg­ment by 4 or 5 clerks in each section should not normally take more than an hour. If due to heaviness of tappal or other work, the tapoals are distributed after 5-00 p.m. it would be the responsi­bility of the Superintendent of the concerned section to see that they are distributed between 11-00 a.m. and 12 noon on the follow­ing day and that the distribution register is sent to the tappal clerk by 12 noon. The tappal clerk should at the end of the day's entries in the distribution register note the hour at which it is sent to the section concerned and the superintendent should in his turn note in the register the time of receipt and the time of return by him.

The distribution register should be put up for check once in a fortnight to the Joint Secretary and in the first week of every month to the Secretary. When, in the process of distribution, a letter has been wrongly allotted to a section or seat, the paper should, in order to avoid waste of time, be taken in person by the concerned superin­tendent or clerk to the First Assistant who will decide which section is to handle the paper. When such an order has been passed, the paper with the order will be immediately sent to the tappal clerk. He will make the necessary entries in the distribution register of the section which it is leaving and in that of the section to which it is transferred and transfer the paper to the latter section without any delay. The letters intended for other branches but misdelivered are distributed by the tappal clerk to the branches concerned and acknowledgment obtained in a note book kept by the tappal clerk for the purpose.

44.  Reminders,   Telegrams   and   urgent   communications.— Every telegram received in the Board should be submitted for the perusal of the Assistant Secretary concerned promptly and before it is sent to the section concerned. Reminders from the Government and telegrams should also be entered serially in the section distribution registers. When the distribution register cannot be easily and quickly secured to enter a telegram or an urgent communication, the tappal clerk may get the acknowledgment of the head of the section concerned in a rough note book to be kept for the purpose. He should, however, see that the communication is entered and formally acknowledged in the distribution register without delay. Reminders other than those from the Government and post copies of telegrams are not numbered but are placed by the tappal clerk in the distribution pad underneath the day's tapnals. The subject clerks concerned should take them along with their other tappals.

45.  Telephone  Message.—Telephone  messages  will  not  be entered   in   the   distribution    registers.     The   telephone  clerk attached to the phone in the Office shall maintain a register in th° form for entering the particulars of all the messages received in the Office.

 

 

S.   No

Date and time of receipt

Subject in brief with outside No. and date

From whom received     

Acknowledg-ment with dateand time of receipt

1

2

3

4

5

 

 

 

 

 

 

As soon as a message is received, the Telephone clerk should assign it a serial number (such as T.M-1. T.M.-2, etc.). The number shall be in a continuous series for the calendar year. Immediately after assigning the serial number to the message, all the columns in the register should be filled in and the register should be sent along with the message to the concerned Superin­tendent. The Superintendent should acknowledge receipt of message in the last column of the register   and return it to the  telephone clerk.   The telephone clerk should submit the register to the First Assistant on the 5th of every month for check. The heads of sections will see that the items are immediately attended to and are not delayed or mislaid by clerks. Post copies of telephone messages will be received and distributed to the sections concerned by the tappal clerk along with the tappals of the day.

46.  Spare copies of printed G.Os.—Printed signed copies of Government Orders or communications from other Departments of which manuscript copies have been received in advance, should not be given fresh current numbers but transferred to the sections concerned to be filed with the previous papers.    Spare copies of printed orders will be transferred daily to the record keeper with a note of the current numbers given to the originals, if received with them and the record keeper's acknowledgment will be taken in a note book kept for the purpose.

47.  Confidential Tappal.—The Secretary opens the confiden­tial tappals.    Papers which are strictly confidential are dealt with personally by the Secretary concerned and are not sent to the Sections. The other confidential tappals are sent by the Secretary after perusal, to the confidential section or to the Assistant Secretary concerned as the case may be, in locked boxes. The confidential circulation clerk enters them in a separate distribution register maintained for the purpose and distributes them to the sections concerned and gets the acknowledgment of the section heads in that register.

48. Demi-Official Tappals.—Demi-official covers are opened by the Officers concerned and those that are sent to the confiden­tial clerk are entered by him in a special distribution register maintained for the purpose and placed before the Officer in charge of office routine and the marking of tapoals etc., who initials the last entry in it and returns it to the confidential clerk. The latter then distributes them to the sections concerned. He also registers them in a special register of Demi-officials received which has columns showing the serial number (from the calendar year), officer from whom received, short title and date of receipt.

Demi-official covers should ordinarily be addressed to the Officer for whom they are intended both by his name and by his official designation. Should the officer addressed by name have vacated his appointment his successor or locum tenens should open such covers and deal with the communications enclosed if he is competent to do so. If not competent, he should return them to the sender with an intimation to that effect and should treat any information thus obtained as confidential. Demi-official covers which are intended to be opened by the addressees only and no one else should be enclosed in covers addressed to him by name only, his official designation being omitted. If he has vacated his appointment and they are delivered to his successor or locum tenens, they should be forwarded to him direct if his address is known or if not returned to the sender.

49. Receipt and Distribution of tappals on Holidays-—Covers received on holidays by "Express Delivery" including those with the Superscription "Periodical-Urgent" should be opened by the Superintendent on term duty and the contents initialled by him with date. He should hand them over to the tappal clerk on turn duty who should distribute them to the sections concerned.

 

CHAPTER V

Registration of Currents

50. Mode of Registration—Each Clerk will maintian a perso­nal register (Appendix V) and where necessary a periodical register (Appendix VI). As soon as the day's tappals are received, he should arrange the currents serially and enter them in his personal or periodical register. The tappal will consist of (i) replies to reference, previously issued from the Office, or papers, which though not sudh replies, have for any other reason to be filed with currents already pending in the office; both these classes of papers come under the head of ' Old Cases'; and (2) other papers including papers arising in the Office called ' New Cases'. New cases should be registered under a fresh serial number while old cases should be noted against the serial number of the papers to which they relate in columns 9 and 10 of the register. To facilitate the tracing of the further currents relating to old cases in the personnel or periodical registers, the number given to each of the further currents in the distribution register should be noted in column 2 of the personal register in its serial order and against it should be noted the current or periodical number of the old case to which it relates. This is illustrated below:

S. No

Current No

Date of receipt by the clerk

Title etc.,

1

2

3

4

335

336

4847

4880

4892

pdl.14/58

30-1-1958

 

1-7-1958

 

Estates(Chittoor) etc.

Budget control of expenditure

 

Section clerks should, as soon as they register the tappals, take the currents which are replies to old cases or are connected with them and should round off the new numbers assigned to them on the currents and write above them the original current or periodical number. They should also, when they receive the distribution register on the next working day, ring off those new numbers in it after noting against them the corresponding original current or periodi­cal numbers of the old cases to which they relate. All corres­pondence should be carried on only with the original numbers. the original numbers should be prominently and boldly noted on the first page of each current and note file. As soon as a file has been is disposed of, the original number should be ringed off in the distribution register and the particulars of the disposal should be entered against it. The distribution register with the tappal clerk and the perso­nal registers of the section clerk should, if these steps are taken, show the same number of pending cases and will serve as a check each on the other. Papers arising in the office will be given a serial number in the section distribution register and entered in the personal register of the clerk concerned. While checking personal registers. Superintendents should make it a point to compare the numbers in the distribution registers with those in the personal registers and satisfy themselves that all the distribution numbers allotted and acknowledged by the clerks in the distribution registers are accounted for in the personal registers. A certificate to that effect should also be appended to the notes on the running note file at the time of each checking. The Assistant Secretaries and other checking officers should also verify a certain percentage of the items in the distri­bution register at the time of their periodical check.

51. Personal Register—Maintenance.—(i) The serial number in Column i simply serves to show how many papers the clerk has ordinarily to deal with. This number is not of course to be quoted either in outgoing references or incoming currents. The numbei in column 2 is the number given by the tappal clerk in the distribution icgister to a current when it is received in the office or in the case of a paper ar sing 'n office, the number given to it by the subject clerk in the distribution register. Whenever the current number of a paper is quoted, the section letter should invariably be prefixed. Further, references on a current number and sub-number or the current number alone, as the case may be, thus Ref. No. A. 59/58-1, dated 2oth January 1958, L. Dis. H. 589/58, dated 3oth June 1958, N. Dis. No. G. 158/58, dated i8th January 1959 should be noted- All disposals except Board's Proceedings in the Press/Misc/Routine series will bear the original current number only with the section letter prefixed.

(2)  The title in column 4 of the personal register   should contain the authorised major head, then the sub-head, if neces­sary, next the local classification and then a word or two to indi­cate the purpose of the current.

(3)  Whenever a paper is submitted by a Superintendent or Clerk to a Gazetted Officer, the fact and the date of submission should be entered in column 6 and its return in column 7.   When  a paper is submitted to an officer through one or more other sec­tions, the fact should be noted in column 6. The actual submis­sion of the paper to the officer should be watched by the Superintendent to check delays. All entries should be in ink. Intermediate references issued on currents whether official, un-official or demi-official should be noted in column 3 and the replies to them in columns 9 and 10, reminders, whether in the form of exchange reminders, demi-official reminders or reference reminders should be noted in red ink in column 8. Similarly incoming reminders or replies to reminders should be noted in red ink in columns 9 and 10. Papers finally disposed of should be ringed off in the first column and the particulars of the disposal (viz., its nature, number and date) noted in column 11- If a paper is returned or otherwise sent out in original with an endorse­ment, the fact should be indicated and dated in column 11 of the register. In such cases, the entry will be ' Returned (with such and such instructions)' or 'transferred to the..................'etc. When papers have been ordered to ' lie over' the words ' Lie over' should be entered in the last column in pencil together with the reasons for the same. The reasons should be clearly indicated.

(4) Not more than three new cases will ordinarily be entered on each page of the register. In the case of certain clerks whose papers are mostly routine, the Superintendent will take the orders of the Assistant Secretary concerned to waive this rule. In the case of any entry relating to a current in which a circular reference is likely to be issued, or protracted correspondence is anticipated, adequate space, if necessary a full page, should be allotted to admit of the entries relating to the entire correspondence till final dis­posal being made neatly.

52.  Registering—Special   arrangements.—During the absence of clerks for short periods on other duty or on leave and when no substitutes are posted, one of the clerks of the section should be directed by the Section Head to attend to the routine work in addition to his normal work.   Such clerks who are placed in charge of the routine work should, apart from attending to the other items of work, receive the tappals relating to the    clerk who is absent and register them in the personal registers every day.

53.  Opening of new registers.—New registers should ordinarily be opened on the first working day of every calendar year.   The first few pages of the new register should be left blank to bring forward the pending papers of the previous year.    In cases how­ever where a substantial portion of the previous year's    register, remains unused, that register should be used for entering the new cases of the succeeding year after leaving a tew pages blank to bring forward the pending papers of the previous year.    Replies to currents of the previous year received till ist April should be entered in the old registers. On the ist of April, the papers of the previous years which are still pending should be brought over to the new register. They should be given serial numbers sepa­rate from those given to the papers received in the year.

54. Confidential personal registers—Maintenance.—The Superintendent of each section except the confidential section will maintain a separate personal register for the registry of all confidential tappals received and disposed of in his section. The Superintendent may hand over papers which are confidential only in a technical sense to be dealt with by the subject clerks, but such papers will also be treated as the Superintendent's papers dealt with by himself and he will make the necessary entries in the personal register maintained by him when such papers pass through him- The confidential personal register will be submitted to the Officers for perusal along with the other personal registers of the section. Suits of any considerable importance should, as a rule, be treated as confidential and the papers relating to them should be registered in the Superintendent's personal register. The deter­mination of the degree of importance of each case is left to the discretion of Superintendents but their discretion should be exercised freely in the direction of marking such papers confi­dential. Secrecy is particularly necessary when the papers contain discussions as to the strength of the cases for Government, for, such information might be of considerable use to the other party to the suit. The following procedure will be followed in respect of confidential communications received and disposed of in sections entrusted with work of a confidential nature. The confidential papers will be handed over to the Section Superintendent by the Confidential Clerk after he registers them in his special distribu­tion register. On their receipt by the Superintendent the paper will be given again numbers taken from the general distribution register of the section. The subject clerk will take their papers after ackonwledging their receipt in the general distribution register and enter them in their personal registers and account for them just as they do for papers which are not confidential. The correspondence on the confidential papers will be carried on under the general current No. and not under the confidential number. In the case of a confidential clerk whose bulk of papers are confi­dential, no distinction is made between confidential and other papers received by him; they are all dealt with confidential.

55. Periodical register—Clerks should maintain their periodical registers in the form given below: —

 

 

 

 

 

Sl. No.

Name of the periodical

Date due

and from whom due

Number and date of re­ceipt

Outgoing periodi­cal

Remarks (Here en­ter remin­ders and reply to reminders

Date

due and to whom due

Date

of des­patch

(I)

(2)

(8)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before the beginning of each month, each clerk should enter in column 2 of the periodical register first the periodicals that are to originate in and issue from the office (i-e-, such as are not compiled from district returns) during the months, noting in the same column in red ink the date on which and the Office to which they are due. He should next enter in column 2 the periodicals due to the Board and in column 3 the date on which and the office or offices from which they are due. When a return is due from all Collectors the entry in column 3 should be: — loth November 1958 Collector. Anantapur, Chittoor, Cuddapah.  As the returns are received, column 4 will be posted, the number entered in column 4 being the number in the distribu­tion register. Intermediate references and replies will be entered in column 7. Some of the returns which are received from all districts or a number of districts are each dealt with separately. For such returns, there should be a separate entry in column 7 against each district such as ' filed', etc. Some returns received from all or most Collectors are reviewed jointly, e.g., the D.C.B., statement of Land Revenue. For such returns there will be one bracketted entry in column 7 such as Board's Proceedings Routine No. 23, dated ist May 1558.

CHAPTER VI

Referencing, Noting and Drafting

56.  Verifications of enclosures received with tappals.—As soon as the clerk has register his tappals for the day, he should verify whether the enclosures, if any, referred to in each of the currents have been received with it-    He should also verify whether the enclosures sent in original with a reference to an outside office have been completely returned with reply-    If the enclosures have not been received, a reference calling for them should be put up at once after verifying all the tappals received on that day-If the current shows that the enclosures have been sent, the clerk should wait till the next day, in the case of urgent references, and for five days in the case of ordinary references and if they are not received by that time, a reference should be sent immediately after the expiry of the period.   All enquiries and replies even as between the staff in this office about missing enclosures should be made in writing.

57.  Acknowledgment of communications from certain autho­rities or persons-—Letters from foreign Governments or foreign consular offices in India or from other States or non-official bodies like Chambers of Commerce or from    respectable    non-official gentlemen should be acknowledged immediately on receipt.   Any documents or confidential records received in tappals should also be acknowledged immediately on receipt.

58.  Translation of papers.—When petitions    in the    local languages of the district are received, English abstracts of them should be put up as a rule before submission for orders.    Heads of sections should see that the abstracts contain all the material poin,   and are accurate-    In important cases the petition should be translated in full.

59. Transfer of currents after registry.—A paper belonging to another branch or section of the Board should be immediately put up to the Assistant Secretary or other officer in charge of the section concerned with an unofficial note transferring it to the concerned branch or section.

60. Collection of papers and books for reference—The clerk will then study each paper and see whether any previous papers or books of reference are required to deal with it He should consult the Board's indices and the stock files maintained by him for tracing and putting up previous correspondence bearing materially on points raised in the paper under disposal. Every paper quoted  by its number and date in a current and its enclosures should be put up and the current and the enclosures referenced. If no papers are quoted in the current and a similar case has been pre viously disposed of, the precedent should be put up.

If references are quoted by private parties or Advocates and if they are not readily available in the office, the parties or Advocates should be directed to produce them within a specified period, indicating that failure in this regard will lead to the matter being disposed of on the materials available.

61- Arrangement of files.—After the required references have been obtained and after the current has been referenced, the clerk will arrange the current file and the papers put up for reference as indicated below:

(a)  Current file.—The papers forming the current file should be tagged together and a fly leaft placed at the top to distinguish them trom the notes and papers put up for reference.   The papers must be arranged in chronological order from the top, each current being followed by its enclosures arranged chronologically.    The pages must be numbered neatly in red ink in the same   order. Both sides of each sheet must be numbered even though one of the sides may be blank.    If the enclosures are maps, or statements in book form, or are bulky and inconvenient for punching they may be kept below the current file and treated as ' put up ' papers for reference purposes.    When a file of replies from Collectors forms part of a current file, an index of such replies showing the page which each will be found should invariably be placed above the first page. Demi official communications which have a clear bearing on the correspondence in the current file and which are necessary for understanding it should be attached to the current file and not to the note file. Demi officials, telegrams and other communi­cations, which are not on foolscap papers, as well as chits from the Assistant Secretary, Secretary, or Member concerned asking ques­tions or conveying orders will be posted on blank sheets of foolscap paper before they are filed with the current or note file as the case may be. If such communications are written on both sides or the paper they will be stitched to it tidily so that both sides can be read easily.

(b)  Put up papers and books of reference-—Books should be placed above the flaps of the flat file board with a slip in each

 book indicating the reference number of the current with which it is put up. Disposal filer put up for reference will be arranged under the current file in chronological order, the earliest file at the bottom. Whenever the original of a printed Board's Proceedings is put up for reference; a detached spare copy of it should also be put up in the file.  If a paper is so urgent    that it    requires the    immediate attentio n of the Board and that consequently the officer to whom

it is submitted should put aside all other work and attend to it as soon as it is received by him at any hour and place whatsoever, the clerk and the Superintendent concerned should place it on a flat file marked ' urgent' and draw the attention of the officer to whom it is submitted in the first instance to the specially urgent nature of the paper. This he will do either personally or by means of a slip attached to trie flap of the file. If that officer is sat'sfied of the special urgency of the file, he w 11 fasten the card marked ' special' to the flap of the file before passing it on to criculation. The blue ' special ' label should not be affixed to the flap by a clerk or a Superintendent. The Superintendent will however, be responsible for seeing that the ' special' label is removed from the file as soon as the special urgency by reason of which it was marked ' special' has passed. Similarly it may some­times happen that a file treated as urgent becomes ordinary, or a file treated as ordinary becomes urgent at a subsequent stage. In such cases, the heads of sections should see that the pad is immediately changed from urgent to ordinary or vice versa as the case may be-

62. Flagging.—A reference to every paper quoted in the current or notes will be noted in pencil on the margin of the current or notes- Every disposal file to which reference is made in the current or notes must be flagged. No flags must be attached to the current or note files themselves. References to these will be made by quoting the number of the page. Flags will be attached by paper fastners and not by pins and when attached to a disposal file will be affixed to the docket sheet and not to any of the papers in the file. When the original as well as a spare copy of a Board's proceedings are put up. the flags should be attached to the spare copy. As far as possible, flags should be arranged in alphabetical or numerical order and in such a way as to catch the eye readily. Thus if flag A or i is affixed to the top files, flag B or 2 will be affixed to the one next below it and so on. They will also be so arranged that one flag does not cover another. There must be only one flag on each file put up for reference. A com­plete list of all papers put up together with the flag marks denoting each, should be given at the head of the office notes, some space being left for subsequent additions.

63- Linking of files-—When it is necessary to refer in one file to another file that has not been disposed of, the two files will be ' linked ', i.e., the file put up for reference w'll be placed under the other file and the strings of the lower file, but not its flaps, will be tied round the upper file- The strings of the upper file will be tied underneath it in a bow out of the way, so that one may not have the trouble of untying and re-tying two sets of strings- Each file will thus be intact with its note file, current file and reference files, properly arranged on its own pad. The two pads must not be put together at the bottom with the contents of the two files mixed together above them. Files are not to be linked unnecessarily or merely because they deal with similar cases but only when it is necessary to refer to a paper in one file in order to dispose of the other or when the orders passed on the one will apply to the other.

64.  Note file—The note file consists of the notes, ' unofficial' references and replies to them, telephonic messages and such of the demi-official communications as are not treated as part of the current file under paragraph 61 above-   The note file will be separate from the current file, and its pages will be continuously numbered in a separate series in black ink and should be refe renced like those of the current file-   At the top of the note file will be placed a (yellow) fly leaf-   Nothing is ever to be written on the fly leaves attached to the current or note files.    They are never to be sent out of the office except when an unofficial refe rence is made, and they are to be removed frem a file as soon as it is closed, and used again.   A note file should be opened immedi ately after a case is registered.   The opening of a note file may be dispensed with only when it is evident that there are no special points requiring attention and orders on a note and the case can be closed at once by a simple final disposal, e.g., by an endorse ment ' M. Dis.', returning a petition as defective or transferring a petition to the Collector for disposal; by a B.p. simply communi cating a G-O. or recording a G.O. or Collector's report; or by a ' Lodged' disposal.

65.  Objects and contents of a note.—The aim of a note should be to present in the most intelligible condensed and convenient form possible the facts of the case to be dealt with, including its past history, the points for decision, useful   precedents and the material provisions of the law or rules governing it, supported by full references to the current or other official publications enabling every fact stated to be verified and every authority cited to be consulted in original.   It should not merely reproduce the matter of the current file, still less should it expand it.    It should of course, supply deficiencies or omissions and correct any error or explain any ambiguity in the current and draw attentior to points on which 'fuller information may be necessary before orders can be passed.    If a report is full, accurate and clear a short note summarising the salient points on which orders should be passed will be sufficient.

66.  Method of noting.—No notes must be    written on the current itself except very simple ones.   No note should be written below a draft unless it is a simple one and no further note is likely to be added by the officer approving the draft-   Other notes must be written on both sides of the paper prescribed for the pur­pose. This is of two kLids one with a margin of half the width of the paper and the other with a margin of one-third of its width. The former should be used only when the subject dealt with is such as to invite marginal comments or orders, for instance, when orders have to be passed on a great number of points as in a note dealing with the question of revising rules or amending an Act. The note connected with any subject will run continuously from the inception of the file until final orders are passed. At the head of the first note in the note file will be written in red ink the title of the file which if the paper is indexed, should be identical with the entry on the index slip and should in any case be arranged as laid down in the Chapter ' Indexing'. U the subject originated with a communication from outside, the officer from whom the communication is received and the number and date of such communication should be entered in red ink below the title. If it is a current originating in the office, the words 'Arising ' should be entered. All correspondence should be carried on only with the original numbers. The original numbers should be prominently noted on the first page of each current and note file. Against each red ink entry in the note file relating to the receipt or desoatch of a communication, the number of the page or pages of the current file at which the paper in question is to be found will be entered to facilitate reference to the correspondence.

If a note results in an intermediate reference to any outside office, the office copy of the reference is added to the current file. The reply to it is also added to that file in chronological order. The number and date of the reference and the designation of the officer to whom the reference is sent should then be noted in red ink in square brackets at the proper place in the note file- When a reply is received, its current number, the officer from whom it is received with its number and date are entered in red ink below the bracketed entry as shown below:—

"(Issued as reference No. F.  (dated ............... to the Collector.......................................... C. No. from the Collector of...............................No................. ....  dated........................)."

The note should then be continued with reference to the new current received. As each note written in continuation of the first office note is. intended to 'advance the case a step further towards its disposal, it is essential that its province should be restricted to such an end. It should not repeat the facts and arguments already summarised in the previous office note unless the latter is inaccurate, to diffused or unmethodical- Unnecessary noting should be studiously avoided. In short, the note file should be compiled as an index of the current file with running comments to show what Has to be done at the start, what is done at various stages and what remains to be done at the same stages, so that any person approach­ing the question newly and all persons dealing with the file, however junior they may be, may be able to see at a glance how it has progressed. When the subject to be noted on consists of a number of more or less independent points, a sectional note should be put up i.e., each point should be treated separately on a separate page and space left below the clerk's and Superintendent's notes for the officers to note or make queries in continuation. It is not suggested that a sectional note is required for every paper in which there is more than one point discussed but when the questions raised appear likely to lead to discussion, the advisability of noting sectionally should be considered. In notes the name as well as the designation of an officer whose opinion is referred to should be quoted whenever neces­sary, e.g., The Collector of Krishna (Sri A) thinks.................. but the Collector of West Godavari (Sri B) says..................... This course should invariably be followed in making a precis of the replies to Board's references. It is not necessary to set forth afresh any summary of facts or discussion of principles which already exist in an adequate form in any previous file. It will be sufficient in such a case to draw attention to the previous file, and then add such fresh matter as may be required. But great care should be taken not to over­look any new points. It may be sufficient simply to refer to the notes in the previous file but it should be carefully verified whether there are any fresh points raised in the later communication, and if there are, they should be noted on. When a case is under disposal, and if it is proposed to deal separately with one or more of the questions arising in the file, or if the draft under disposal in the case contains a paragraph stating that separate orders will issue on any particular question, a fresh file should be opened immediately with relevant extracts from the main file and a new current number should be assigned to it. This fresh file should be linked with the main file before the latter is submitted for orders or approval of the draft, and a note should be made in the office note of the main file, before it is submitted, to the effect that the fresh file has been opened and linked. Whenever inspection notes which are to be reviewed are received in the office, the clerk concerned should put them up within three days of receipt, confirming his office note, if any, to salient points without comments on merits, leaving it to the officers to go through the notes and add their comments on the notes prepared by the Collector. When putting up office notes, care should be taken to see that the extreme edges of the page are not used in view of the possibility of the written matter being lost owing to fraying. Care should also be taken to see that when notes are put up for orders there is sufficient space on the page for the passing of orders. There should be no crowding entries at the end of the note with­out leaving even few millimetres of margin. It is not right that the office should criticise orders of the Collector and the Revenue Divisional Officer or should urge arguments with reference to contentions advanced by them or by lawyers, as it is not the function of the office which deals with appeal and revision petitions in quasi Judicial matters to go into the merits of the case but that it should confine its attention to see whether all the required formalities have been observed, in the course of assisting the disposal of the appeal or revision peti­tion. The office should not examine the contentions in appeals and revision petitions when they are quasi Judicial in nature. Of course these need not be applied to disciplinary cases of Village Officers and others.

67.  When a draft may be put up with a note.—In simple cases and whenever it is obvious what course should be adopted, a draft may be put up at the same time as the note is submitted for orders-    Even in fairly complicated cases this may sometimes be done especially if the draft is one asking for further information. When a draft is put up, the words ' Draft submitted ' with date and initials should be entered at the foot of the note.

68.  Blank sheers to be attached to note   files.—A sufficient number of blank sheets should be attached to note files before submission to officers.

69.  References to authorities quoted in the note-—For every statement made in the note except expressions of opinion which should not be offered by clerks or heads of sections, an authority must be cited and such authority should as far as possible be noted in the body of the note and referenced in the margin.    When such authority is to be found in the current file itself, the page at which it is to be found and the number of the relevant paragraph on such page will be noted.   When it is contained in a previous disposal, the number of the para, which contains the relevant information will be noted in the body of the note while the number of the page and the letter or number borne by the flag attached to the disposal will be noted in the margin. Passages in the current and note files should always be referred to in the notes by the number of the page on which they occur. Nothing what ever except the reference is to be written in the margin of the notes which is reserved for the orders and remarks of the officers

70.  Replies to queries.—When any officer writes a question in the margin of the note, the reply to it is to be written in continuation of the note and not in the margin.   The question will be copied out afresh at the end of the note and the answer written below the copy; or the letters A, B, C, etc., will be written boldly, against each such question and the answer   marked    with   the corresponding letters written at the end of the note.   If the officers write any question on draft or currents, they will be similarly dealt with and the answer written in cotinuation of the note; and if a note file has not been opened already, one should be opened for the purpose.

Queries by the officers and members of the Board will be dealt with at the latest on the day following the receipt of the file in the section.

71.  Reference to Acts, Books, etc-—Whenever a book is refer red to in a note, the number of the relevant page, paragraph, clause, etc., are to be given.    When an Act is referred to, the number and short title of the Act will be given including the legislative authority that passed it (State or Central).   If the Act quoted is printed in the Madras Code or the India Codes   the number of the volume and the number of the page referred to will be noted.    If a book or Act not included in the list of books with the officers is referred to, it should be put up with the file. In the 'case of books or Acts included in the list of books with the officers, the book No. assigned by the librarian to the particular book referred to should also be noted in pencil in the margin.

72.  Drafting-—At the head of every draft resolution, reference or L. Disposal, the title or docket must be written.    The titles of reference and L. Disposal need only indicate in the briefest possible terms the subject matter; the titles of resolutions should show the subject matter and, as far as possible, how it has been disposed of except in the case of confidential resolutions.    The titles of confidential Board's Proceedings should briefly indicate the subject but should not disclose the manner in which it has been disposed of .    The various papers read in the draft should be quoted as they will appear in the fair copy, i.e., with details of officer from whom received, date, etc., it should also be indicated against each by the prescribed symbol whether the paper is to be written in full in the fair copy or not (vide note below).

The list of addresses should be entered in the margin at the end of the draft. They should be checked before the draft is sub­mitted for approval. Entries relating to reminders should also be made at the end of the drafting:-

Note.—The prescribed symbols for copying are the follow-

A—(Copy in full).

Q—(Merely quote No. and date). B—(Do not quote). P—(Give abstract).

73.  Preparation of draft when Members differ in opinion.—-Where opinions which are not variance with each other have beeo expressed by the members or any    subject,    the    proceedings shall be drafted in accordance with the views of the    majority, but, subject to the exception noted below, should contain no refe­rence to the view of the majority of the Board or the opinions of the minority. In the case of proceedings addressed to Government, a Member who dissents from the majority and desires that the fact that he dissents should be referred to in the Proceedings will record a minute of dissent. The fact that a member has recorded such a minute will be mentioned in the proceedings and the reso­lution, so far as it relates to the subject of disagreement, will be that of the majority of the Board. If the dissenting member does not record a minute of dissent no reference will be made in the proceedings to the fact that he dissents. When members have expressed conflicting views, the Proceedings whether addressed to Government or not shall not be issued until, the Member in the minority has seen them; but where the matter is simple and it is unnecessary to delay the issue of the proceedings, the Secretary has the discretion to issue the proceedings and then to circulate the file and draft to the Member in the minority-

74.  References addressed to   Government—Such   references should as a rule be complete in themselves.   There is however no objection to forwarding a subordinate officer's letter with a short endorsement, when the letter is concise and to the point.   But when a reference has been made to the officer to elucidate further points or when the officer forwards copies of correspondence with other officers or details not required by the Government, a proper Self-contained report should be drafted.

75- Petitions improperly stamped or otherwise defective.— Every representation to the Board in writing which has to be stamped and which is received unstamped or understamped should be returned with the following endorsement: —

"The petition should bear C.F. stamps to the value of... ............and as it does not bear them it is rejected. The petition will be readmitted and considered if it is represented within a month from the date of this order after affixing court fee stamps to the value of...............and if it

is not time barred ". If it is resubmitted properly stamped within the specified time it should be registered and dealt with, limitation being calcu lated with reference to the date of original representation of the petition. If it is resubmitted after the specified period it should be considered and dealt with on merits only if it is in time on the date of representation. Otherwise it should be rejected. The office date stamp should not be applied to the stamps on an insufficiently stamped petition nor should the stamp be cancelled by punching out the figure head. The same procedure should be followed mutatis mutandis in the case petition which are defective in other respects, viz., want of authenticated or certified copies of the orders appealed against.

76. Miscellaneous instructions for Superintendents and Clerks-—(i) A Board's proceedings or reference soliciting the orders of the Government should as a rule be sent only to Government in the first instance, unless it is intended that Collectors or other authorities .should be kept informed of the action that is being taken. In the exceptional cases a copy may be marked to the Collector or other authorities concerned.

(2) When a Government order is received passing orders on a subject and calling for amendments to the Board's standing orders, the Government order should be communicated to sub ordinate officers at once and the amendments proposed later.

(5) Office copies of all correspondence which is returned in original to other offices should be kept in cases where the files will not be intelligible without such copies.

(4) When no appeal lies to the Board or when an appeal is liable to summary rejection under para. XIII of Board's petition rules contained in Appendix XIV to S.O. 172 (10) the Office should not discus the merits of the case but should merely put up a draft summarily rejecting the appeal unless there is some prima facie reason to suspect a miscarriage of justice, in which case a brief note should be put up for orders of the member or members concerned as to whether any, and if so, what action should be taken.

(5)  Superintendents should see that the exchange reminders received from the Government are resubmitted in the very day of their receipt.   They should also see that the clerk concerned notes in the file the date by which an   exchange   reminder was to be returned along with the date of actual return when making an endorsement returning it.

(6)  Reviews containing    suggestions or    comments   which should receive the special attention of the subordinate officer con­cerned should be sent in a name cover addressed to him.

(7)  Replies to the Government references in which dates are fixed for their submission should invariably be submitted so as to reach the Government on or before the date fixed.   It should be the personal responsibility of the Superintendent concerned to watch the movement of such files and to see that they are got approved and despatched in time.

(8)  It is necessary that the expense involved in the issue of telegrams should be reduced to the minimum possible.    With this end in view, the issue of a telegram should be authorised only when the issue of a SAVINGRAM instead will not serve the pur­pose equally well.   No telegram should therefore be issued unless it bears the certificate of the Assistant Secretary concerned that its issue was considered absolutely essential.    Such telegrams should ordinarily be marked ' ordinary' unless for reasons to be recorded in writing, it is found necessary to mark them ' Urgent'.

(9)  It sometimes happens during the course of correspon­dence that the subject-matter   gradually   drifts into another with the result that the original title becomes no longer applicable to the subsequent correspondence.   Care should be taken to see that such " Straying " does not take place as it would also result in the files becoming unwield a long pending and topics getting mixed up.

(10)  Two or more officers should not be addressed in one and the same draft, marking some paragraphs to one and certain paragraphs to others. letter.

(11) All Heads of Departments should be addressed by a

(12) Whenever   any   reference is issued from the Board's office on an arising current, the circumstances in which it came  to be issued, e.g., with reference to the remarks made in the inspec­tion notes, should briefly be noted in the margin for future reference.

(13)  No file should be closed when awaiting orders on a proposal.    After Government orders are received, the whole file may be closed as a B.P.

(14)  The important points on which Collector's remarks are required should be carefully throughout and mentioned specifically in the first reference itself to be made to the Collector while forwarding a petition or a copy of it to him for his report.

77. Draft orders on petitions-—The following rules should be observed by all drafting clerks and Superintendents in putting up draft orders on petitions.

(i) Regular appeals.—Brief reasons should invariably be given when appeals are dismissed, whether the Board's order is final or not, unless the disclosure of such reasons is consi­dered prejudicial to public interest or there are grounds for keeping them confidential.

(ii) Review or revision petitions.—If such petitions adduce no grounds other than those dealt with in the order at issue, the fact should be stated and no further reasons need be given. If new grounds are adduced, they should be briefly dealt with in the order.

(iii) Other petitions—When petitions are rejected on technical grounds, the rule or rules under which they are rejected should invariably be stated.

78.  Government and Board singular or plural.—In all notes and drafts " Government" should be treated as a plural noun and " Board " as a singular noun.

79.  Communications of resolutions on particular questions— Resolutions on particular    questions    referred to the Board for orders or on particular cases reported to the Board for   disposal should not be communicated to all Collectors without the express approval of the Secretary or Member.

80.  Lie-over files.—No file should be marked ' lie over' with­out the orders of the Secretary or the Assistant Secretary.    As soon as the condition for which a file is awaiting disposal has been fulfilled, it should be brought immediately to the general list of pending papers in the arrear list

81. Appendices and important proposals to be printed— Appendices to Board's proceedings dealing with important pro­posals such as schemes for the revision of village establishments and the like should, as far as possible, be printed as part of the proceedings to which they relate. Such statements embody important facts and figures, concerning the results of such investi­gation and combination and are often valuable for future reference. Drafting clerks will be held responsible for the due observance of this order (See Government Memo, recorded in Board's proceed­ings No. 729, Miscellaneous, dated 2oth February 1906).

82. Communications to District Judges The Registrar, High Court, etc.—All communications from the Board's office to the District Judges should be sent through the Registrar, High Court, except in urgent cases, and all communications to the High Court should be by letter and not by proceedings. Communications with important or well known public bodies or firms should be as a rule by letters. Communications received from them should not be described as petitions except when, under the rules, they must be so described, e.g., revision petitions, by firms under the General Sales Tax Act.

83- Amendments to B.S.Os—Drafting clerks are responsible for suggesting amendments to the B.S.Os., relating to the subjects dealt with by them. Every file containing a proposal which is likely to involve an amendment to the B.S.Os. should be circu­lated to Full Board before the Government are addressed or orders are passed on the proposal. Every draft involving an amend­ment to the B.S.Os. should also be circulated to Full Board unless the actual wording of the amendment has been approved by two Members at an earlier stage. The orders of the Members should also be obtained whether the correction slips should be issued immediately or whether they may be postponed to the prescribed dates in each half-year. If effect is to be given immedi­ately to the amendment, the drafting clerk should after the draft has been approved, prepare a correction slip for each amendment as finally approved by Members on a separate sheet and submit it to the Assistant Secretary and should after approval, pass the slip on to the press clerk and take his initials on the draft. Both the proceedings which will be in press series and the correction slips containing the amendments ordered in the proceedings should be despatched simultaneously. In the case of amendments deferred, they will be consolidated by the sections concerned and issued on the dates prescribed in each half-year.

84. Destruction of rough original notes and   drafts__When dean copies of notes or drafts are made to replace corrected and untidy originals, the latter should be destroyed by the Head of the Section in the absence of specific orders to the contrary.

85.  Records sent to other offices to be listed.—When any of the Board's records are to be sent in original to other offices or are to be produced in Courts, the drafting clerks should bring the fact to the notice of the Record Keeper for entry in his special record issue register; when original records have to be sent with unofficial references, the drafting clerks concerned should make lists of such records to be filed with U.O. references.

86.  Grant of refusal of copies to be    noted on originals.— When a copy of Board's Proceedings or Court's proceedings is granted or refused, the drafting clerk should note the number and date of the order granting or refusing the copy on the third page of the docket of the original proceedings or Court's proceed ings above the tabular form.

87.  Leave to Gazetted Officers.—All correspondence relating to the grant of leave to gazetted officers should be treated as urgent.

88.  Printing of legal opinions.—Opinions of   the   Advocate General or other legal adviser should not be printed in Board's proceedings without the explicit orders of the Secretary concerned to be obtained in each case-

89.  Communications of orders on petitions-—Officers    sub ordinate to the Board should invariably be furnished with copies of orders f assed on petitions addressed to the Board whether these orders confirm or vary their orders and whether they are passed on reports obtained from them or not.

90.  Marginal entries and tabular matter.—Marginal entries and tabular matter which increase the cost of   printing   should be avoided as far as possible in drafting proceedings which are to be printed.

91.  References to legal officers.—In making   references   for legal advice, the facts of each case and the points on which advice is sought .should be concisely but clearly stated in the reference order.    Whenever it is found necessary to obtain the advice of the Government Pleader the orders of the Secretary concerned should be obtained beforehand.

92.  Writing or marking marks in books.—Heads of sections and drafting clerks are strictly prohibited from writing or making marks with pen or pencil in any book belonging to the Board's library or record room including bound Gazettes Acts, etc.

93.  Check of reports and returns to be  disposed   of  collectively.—When reports and returns received from districts are to be disposed of collectively, the examination of individual reports and returns should not be deferred until all the reports and returns are received and the file is taken up for disposal.   As each indi­vidual report or return is received it should be checked at once and the requisite preliminary action taken.    Heads of sections should see that this order is punctually carried out by drafting clerks.

94.  Protection   of   old   or   torn records.—Protecting boards should be used when submitting old or torn records as references for the disposal of a current, while inam sheets should be circulated in tin tubes.   Heads of sections and the circulation clerk should see that this order is duly followed.

95.  References to books of   reference,   selection of   records, etc.—In office notes references are sometimes made to pages or paragraphs of books of reference, selections of records or long orders, without any attempt to explain on what precise passage the Office rely or what they consider that it establishes, e.g., "atten­tion is invited in this connection to Government Order—-(2 or 3 pages long)".   When making such references it should be stated exactly what point the office wishes to refer to and what inference it draws from it; e.g., "attention is invited to paragraph of Government order in which Government have stated that this shows that this rule should be strictly observed.

96.  Notes and Draft by the Secretary and Members.—Heads of sections should check   notes and   drafts by the officers   and Members of the Board and    bring any slips to notice.    When such notes are made on a file in circulation, the circulation clerk would show them at once to the Heads of sections concerned.

97.  Style in notes and Drafts.—All drafting clerks and super­intendents should road" the instructions contained in   section X "style in notes and drafts'' in the District Office Manual and avoil the common errors pointed out therein in putting up notes and drafts.


CHAPTER VII

Forms and Rules of Correspondence

98. Forms of   Correspondence-—Correspondence   from    the Board shall be. in one or other of the following forms :

(a)  Letter form.—This will be the form when it is proposed to address—

(i) the Board of another State or another Government,

(ii) the Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad,

(iii) the President of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council or the Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly,

(iv) the Secretary, Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commis sion,

(v) an officer not under the administrative control of the Government of Andhra Pradesh,

(vi) the Accountant-General, Andhra Pradesh,, (vii) Vice-Chancellor or Registrar of a University,

(viii) a Member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly or Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council,

(ix) a non-official of status, or

(x) a non-official Association or Society of standing, and

(xi) All Heads of Departments.

(b)  Resolution.—When the disposal in a case contains final orders of the Board, it takes the form of a resolution.    These  proceedings are issued in the Misc. series when the disposal has to be retained permanently and is of a lasting value. It takes the form of a resolution—Routine—when it is of reasonable importance and the retention of which is necessary for at least 7 years. The appellation "Press" is added to either of the Routine or Misc. series when the proceedings in question has to be printed in view of the large number of copies required for communication to subordinate authorities.

(c)  L.Dis.—These are "Lodged disposals" usually accorded to ordinary papers the retention of which will be sufficient for three years.    Papers which are merely lodged are also treated in the same manner as "Lodged Disposals".

(d)  Reference.—When any information or opinion has to be obtained from a subordinate officer by an "Official reference" and papers are not being sent in original this form is ordinarily used.   This form is also used in correspondence with a non-official when a letter is not necessary under item (a) above, to acknowledge the receipt of a  communication  or  to  convey  information  not amounting to an order of the Board.    This form is also used in submitting proposals to Government for sanction.

(e)  Endorsement form.—When a paper is returned in origi­nal or when it is referred to a subordinate officer in original for remarks or is communicated to him in original for information or disposal, the disposal takes the form of "endorsement".

(f)  Demi-official.— In cases where an officer or a member of the public has to be addressed without the formality of the official procedure and with a view to interchange or communication of opinion or information which it is undesirable to place on an official record or when it is desired that a matter should receive the personal attention of the individual addressed, the communica­tion takes the form of a demi-official.

Note—Communications never be referred to as demi-officials from    non-officials    should never be referred to as demi-officials.

99. Contents of communications.—(i) The correspondence issuing from the Board shall as a rule be complete in itself and as far as possible be independent of enclosures;

(2)  Correspondence shall be condensed as much as possible and reputation and unnecessary details avoided;

(3)  As far as possible only one topic should be dealt with in one communication;

(4)  D.O.  correspondence  shall  not  be  quoted  in  official communications;

(5)  Ref. from one branch to another (Unofficial reference).— When references are necessary from one branch to another, per­sonal discussions between officers concerned should be resorted to as far as possible with a view to reduce the volume of notes-Otherwise the files, should be sent from one branch to another marked 'U.O.' (Unofficial) reference.    A case should not ordi­narily be sent for perusal to another branch whose connection with the question or of the issue in the case is remote and interest is likely to be small.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER VIII

Procedure in dealing with proposals for

Legislation, and questions, Resolutions etc., in the Legislature.

 

100.  Questions-—All   files   relating   to   Legislative   Assembly questions should be treated as "Special".    Reference to subordi­nate authorities for information regarding answers to questions shall   not   be   made   except   in   case   of   real   necessity where the information is not available with the Board.    When a draft answer to the question is prepared, the clauses of the question should be reproduced in the same sheet of paper as the draft answers in parallel columns.   The clauses of the question should appear in the left half of the page above the answers.   Below the answers, sufficient material for answering supplementary questions which  may arise should invariably be given.     When  it is  not possible to submit answers to questions in time, applications for extension of time should invariably be made before the expiry of allotted time.    The draft answers should not be sent unless they are approved by the Member concerned.

101.  Proposals for Legislation and Resolutions in the Legisla­ture-—On all such cases orders of the Full Board should be obtained.    When dealing with proposals for legislation, as far as possible each clause in the Bill should be examined separately by means of sectional notes and a covering note should be put up on the general question of objections and reasons for the proposed legislation.

 

CHAPTER IX

Circulation

 

102.  The Circulation of cases to Members is ordered with reference to the reservation of business for disposal by Members notified from time to time; and the circulation will be accordingly to a Full Board or for a collective Board or for two Members or for one Member only.    Papers which have to be seen by more than one Member, should as a rule, be circulated to the Members in the order of juniority beginning with the junior most Member. For instance, in the case of a Full Board subject, the files should be marked thus: M5/M4/M3/M2/M1 and the files which have to be marked to two Members should be thus: M4/M1.   When one Member differs from another Members in his opinion on a subject reserved for disposal by two Members the point must be decided by a collective Board—(Vide proviso to Section 2 of the Madras Board of Revenue Act I of 1894).    Before a case is sub­mitted to a Member for orders, a summarised note should be added at the end specifying the point for orders and referring also to the views taken by other branches, if any, which have been consulted in the matter.    If a case is to be treated as "Special" it will be so marked on the case itself by the Officer ordering its circulation.

103.  Cases marked for circulation to go to Section Superinten­dents first.—A case marked for circulation will always go first to the Superintendent of the Section who will be responsible to ensure that the cases are complete, that the papers are properly arranged, that all unnecessary papers are removed, that all unneces­sary portions of the note file and the current file are scored ofl, that only old records put in the case are in covers, that the flags arc intact, that black sheets are added to the note file, that the draft disposal or note bears the initials of the officers who passed it, that drafts not approved are folded and placed at the bottom of the case unless necessary for reference, that the headings or notes are properly filled up, that all notes on slips or routine note sheets and rough drafts of notes or of disposals are removed, unless otherwise specially ordered by the officer directing the circulation, or are kept at the bottom of the case neatly folded.    If such papers are removed, they should be restored on the return of the case. The Superintendent and the clerk shall check and reference the notes and drafts put up by the Officers and bring to their notice before passing on he case any omissions, mis-statements of facts or other inaccuracies.   The case will then be passed on to the clerk designated "Circulation Clerk"..

104.  Circulation Clerk.—The duty of the Circulation Clerk is to circulate papers according to orders.    He should sort papers received for circulation and put in separate trays and each tray should be handed over to the personal peons of the Members concerned. The personal peons should take the papers without disturbing the arrangements and place them before the Members concerned. The circulation clerk will be held primarily responsible for any mistake in circulation. The papers intended for Members should be submitted to them in two batches, one in the morning before the arrival of Members and again during the interval for lunch and none but urgent papers should be submitted for them after the second batch. Every file marked "Special" should be circulated immediately to the Member concerned. The circula­tion clerk should also see that the section clerks send the papers to him at frequent intervals instead of accumulating them and sending them in one batch and should bring breaches of this rule to the notice of the Superintendent concerned. He will also see that all papers passed by Members are passed on to the sections too and not accumulated for circulation. For the circulation of papers, the circulation clerk will be guided by circulation entries made by the officer to whom they are first circulated taking instruc­tions from the heads of sections in cases of doubt. If no circulation entries are marked by the officer the circulation clerk will return the file to the section. The section head will then bring to the notice of the officer the omission if any to mark further circulation entries. After the file is received back from circulation, the circu­lation clerk will submit the papers to the Secretary and other officers concerned for perusal before returning them to the sections concerned. The circulation  clerk  will  maintain  the following registers.

1.        Register in form A.  

   (circulation   of   files   to   officers   in L. R. & s. branch.)

 

Date

S. No.

Subject with enclosures.

Officer bo whom circulated Remarks M1/M2/M3/M4/M5/S, JS, A.Js.

(1)

W.

(8)

(*)                                (5)

2.    Register in from B.      circulation of files to other branches.

Date

S. No.

C. No. of the file with the section

Subject with enclo­sures

Section or officer to whom sent

Acknow­ledgement in token of receipt

Rema­rks

CD

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

 

When linked files are attached to a case sent in circulation, the fact should where possible be noted in the circulation register mentioning the current number of the linked file. When valuable books or other documents are sent in circulation, the circulation clerk should where possible mention the fact briefly in the circula­tion register. If any such book or document is not received back when the file is returned from the circulation, the circulation clerk should, when returning the case to the section concerned, give the fact that the book or document has not been received back with the case itself from circulation. The section will take such action as is necessary to trace and recover the book or document. The circulation clerk is responsible for maintaining absolute secrecy of the cases passing through his hands. Severe notice will be taken if he allows any unauthorised person to have access to a case or circulation register. The circulation clerk will allot each file a number in the serial order for the day and note it in the file. The entry in the registers should be ringed off when the file is passed on to the last officer or section as indicated in the register. The circulation clerk should see that files are not kept unguarded at the close of the day but neatly arranged and kept under lock and key.

105.  Despatch of papers to camps-—When members are in camps the circulation clerk should collect the papers intended for them and send them to the respective camps.    A list of papers despatched to each camp should be prepared in duplicate, one copy being sent to the camp and other retained in office.    The camp clerk should carefully check the list of papers received in camp and report if any paper is missing.   The camp clerk should similarly send a list of papers despatched to office from camp which the circulation clerk should check with the incoming list and also see that all papers noted in the office copies of the list kept by him have been returned.    Urgent and specially urgent papers which are sent to camp should be indicated by attaching at the top of the paper the red label marked "Urgent" or the blue 'Special' card as the case may be.

106.  Circulation of confidential papers-—Confidential papers are circulated in locked boxes by the confidential clerk concerned. Strictly confidential papers are circulated by the Secretary himself in special locked boxes or in sealed covers when the Members are in camps.    Papers which are to be circulated by the confidential clerk should be handed over to the clerk or the Superintendent concerned by the confidential clerk.    No confidential papers should be sent to any one through peons except in locked boxes or in sealed covers.   The instructions in para 104 above regarding the maintenance of a circulation register should be followed by the confidential clerk also unless otherwise ordered,

 

CHAPTER X

Copying and Examining Papers and Despatching.

 

107. How papers are dealt with after circulation.—When a draft has been received back in the section finally approved, the Superintendent will write on the draft, the order 'issue' with his initials and date and pass it on to the drafting clerk. The drafting clerk will separate it from the pad containing the current file, note file, and put up papers, and send it on to the fair copying section along with the enclosures, if any, to be fair copied, simultaneously obtaining the acknowledgment of the Fair Copy Supervisor or the numbering clerk in a register in which the numbers and dates of all the office copies given for fair copying are noted. The Fair copy Supervisor, should get them fair copied and compaired and send them to the clerk concerned who will attach the enclo­sures, if any, to the fair copies, get them signed by Superintendent or the Assistant Secretary as the case may be, and then send them back to the Fair Copy Supervisor. For taking the fair copies to the sections for signature, for bringing them back from the sections, and for returning the office copies to the clerks concerned after despatch, the Fair Copy Supervisor should solely use the services of the Attender intended for the purpose- The Attender must also maintain a register in which the initials of the clerks concerned should be obtained while returning the office copies after despatch. In the case of proceedings issued from the Board to the Collectors which have necessarily to be communicated to sub­ordinate officers by Collectors, it makes for expedition and saving of labour, if the required number of copies are prepared in the Board's office itself and issued to Collectors. The concerned Assistant Secretary should decide in each case whether the com­munication will have to be sent to Revenue Divisional Officers, Block Development Officers, Tahsildars, etc., and see that a suffi­cient number of copies are reneoed and issued to each Collector for despatch to his subordinate officers. If it has to be, then copies should be prepared and despatched accordingly. This form of despatch may be given some special name for the purpose of convenience say 'A' Class despatch. In all drafts which require it, the Assistant Secretary should order 'A' class despatch in the margin. A scale showing the number of copies required for each district should be worked out and kept for permanent use in the Fair copying section. The Fair copy Supervisor should classify the papers received by him into three categories, namely, (i) Immediate or Special, (2) Urgent and (3) Ordinary. He should make necessary arrangements to see that the papers marked 'Immediate' or 'Special' are fair copied, compared, signed and despatched immediately. Urgent papers should be attended to on the same day while the rest are attended to in the order of their urgency and under no circumstances should a paper remain undespatched in the section for over three days. To obviate indiscreminate marking of drafts as 'Immediate or Special', the Assistant Secretaries or any officers of and above the rank of Assistant Secretaries alone should endorse the above words in their own hand and initial the same. After despatch drafts are received and if they pertain to final disposal in B. P. Mis. or Routn/R or D/series, the subject clerk will enclose the file in a jacket, enter on the jacket the abstract of the subject matter and the nature of the disposal- He will then enter the numbers and dates of the back papers, if any, inside the jacket of the new file and likewise enter the number and date of the new filfie inside the packets of each of its back disposals. The subject clerk will also attach a tabling slip (Appendix VII) to the Board's proceedings indicating on it the series to which the Board's proceedings belong and the fact whether it was seen by the Member by making necessary corrections in the heading of the slip.

108.  'Lodged and' 'Stitched' papers.—If a disposal is 'lodged', the drafting clerk will after making the necessary entries in the last column of the personal register or the periodical register as the case may be, against the current, send it along with the Personal or Periodical register to the Record Keeper.    If the disposal is lodged and stitched with a B.P. or R. or D. disposal, the clerk will stitch it with the concerned B. P. or R or D disposal, note the disposal in the last column of the concerned register and send both the register and the B. P. or R or D disposal, to the record keeper. The latter will acknowledge the receipt of the 'lodged paper' and the B. P. or R or D.    Disposal referred to above after verifying whether the papers have been stitched with the B. P. or R or D. Disposal, in the last column of the register against the current concerned.

109.  Papers despatched in originals.—N. Disposals should be sent by the drafting clerks direct to the despatcher who will impress the despatch seal and add also his initials with date in the last column of the personal register against the current in token of its receipt and despatch. no. Duties of the Superintendets in-charge of the Fair Copying Section.—The Superintendent in charge of the fair copy section with the assistance of the clerk incharge of the numbering of proceedings should examine the papers received by him from the drafting sections for issue and verify that the copying instructions are clear and enclosures complete. He will then have Board's proceedings numbered in the numbering books (Appendix VIII) in the series to which it has been assigned and have the number of the Board's proceedings and date entered on the tabling slip, on which should also be typed the abstract of the Board's proceedings. The tabling slip and the office copy of the draft should then be sent to the subject clerk.

111.  Entry of papers in work books-—The numbering clerk should enter in  the work books  (Appendix IX) the misc.  and routine Board's proceedings.   References, L.Dis. etc., received for copying should similarly be noted in separate work books kept for the purpose.    All Board's proceedings in the Press series should be passed on to the subject clerk who will immediately on receipt, remove the pages of the file to be printed and hand them over to the Press Clerk and obtain his acknowledgment in the note book in which such acknowledgment is taken for papers sent to the current section.

112.  Date of Board's Proceedings, etc.—The date of the Board's (i.e.) B. P. Rt. or Mis. and in other communications like L.Dis. proceedings, will be the date of approval of the draft.   But in the case of drafts received from Members in camp, the date should be the date of receipt of the file from the camp, which should be got approved by the First Assistant or Assistant Secretary.   They should take care to mark every paper for issue as soon as it is returned to them passed, so that the date of the Board's proceed ings, references, etc. (except those passed by Members in camp) may as far as possible be the date on which they were finally passed. Drafting clerks should see that all papers marked for issue are passed on to the current section without delay.

113.  Copying and Examining of Fair Copies-—Papers as they are posted in the work books will be distributed by the Superintendent in charge of the fair copy section among the typists and copyists and taken back when they are ready and handed over to the examiner   who   will   return   them   to   the Superintendent in charge of the fair copy section after examination.    Fair copies going to Government will be examined generally by the Superintendent himself.   All roneo or typed copies or forms or statements will be examined a second time by the drafting clerks concerned to see if they have been correctly prepared.

114.  Names of Members to be inserted in Fair Copies.—In ail Proceedings, references and letters issuing from the office of the Board of Revenue, the name of the Member or the names of the Members should be inserted in the fair copies as indicated below :

(i) In respect of final decisions of the Board, the name of the Member or the names of the Members associated in the actual issue of the proceedings, together with their designations should be inserted at the top of the fair copy and the name of the Secretary, Joint Secretary, Additional Joint Secretary or Assistant Secretary, approving the draft should be indicated at the bottom.

(ii) In the case of references made or final reports sent to the Government only the name of the Member or the names of the Members concerned together with their designations should be indicated at the top of the fair copy, while the name of the Secretary, Joint Secretary, Additional Secretary or Assistant Secre­tary approving the draft should be indicated at the bottom.

(iii) In respect of communications sent to subordinate officers, the existing practice or reading the name of the concerned Member at the top should be continued.

(iv) As regards letters sent on behalf of the Board to other Departments, they should be issued in the name of the Secretary, Joint Secretary or Additional Joint Secretary concerned with the subject and not in the name of the Assistant Secretary. between the date on which such orders are passed by a Member or Members and that on which the draft is finally approved, a change occurs in the personnel of the Member or Members concerned, the draft should be submitted to the new Member or Members for information and formal approval.

115. Submission of Fair Copies for Signature.—Fair copies will be sent up by the numbering clerk for signature in convenient batches. Urgent papers may be sent up at any time- No fair copy should be sent for signature before all the enclosures whether type-written reneoed or prepared in manuscript are ready and compared or before copy is taken and compared of papers going in original. Fair copies going to the Government other than those which the Secretary asks to be put up to him for signature should be submitted for the signature of the concerned Assistant Secre­tary. Fair copies of other papers will be signed by the Superinten­dents concerned. They should see that the enclosures which should accompany the fair copies are in the file before they sign them On receipt of the signed copies, the numbering clerk should fill in column 5 of the work books and send the files with the Enclosures duly verified to the despatcher. All officers signing fair copies will compare the date of the proceedings and the date on which the fair copies are put up for signture with a view to take action against the persons responsible for excessive delays.

116. Works Book (Appendix).—The Superintendent in charge of the fair copy section should get the various columns of the works book serially numbered as columns 1 to 8 before a book is brought into use. He should also see that a copy of the instructions in this paragraph is pasted on the inner side of the cover of each work book. The numbering clerk should fill up columns 1 to 5. He should satisfy himself that the fair copies are duly signed and verify the enclosures, before filling up column 5. He should affix his initials in red ink in the docket of the draft for approval form against the entry 'when signed' irrespective of whether and one else has made an entry there in token of such verification. The file should only then be passed on to the despatcher who should fill up columns 6 and 7.

1.17. General rules regarding copying.—The following general rules regarding copying will be observed by the Typists:

(1)  Before a typist begins to copy a paper for issue he shall verify that it bears the initials of a Gazetted Officer.

(2)  Any fair copy extending over more than one page shall be typewritten on both sides of the paper.                                     

(3)  All copies must be made neatly and legibly.                 

(4)  Copying must be done with care, erasures and corrections being avoided; interlineations should not be made especially in ' letters'.

(5)  In copying the first word of a   separate   item   in   the preamble to a proceedings and the first word of every paragraph in a communication to be issued, a five or six letter space should be left between the word and the prescribed margin.

(6)  The margin to be left blank should be on the left hand side of the front page and right hand side of the back page of a sheet of paper.    The margin may be encroached upon only if statements have to be copied in the body of a communication and are too big to be    typed on the    portion on    which the communication is copied-

(7) Marginal entries, unless they are very small, should be inserted by an indenture made on the side on which the communication is copied and should be separated from such communication by three lines ruled or typed on the top, bottom and the side facing the body of the communication,                                      

(8)  All fair copies should be typed with single spacing.

(9)  In forms of correspondence in which designation of the officer sending the communications has to be typed underneath jhis signature the name of the department need not be typed, if that is printed, embossed or typed at the top of the paper.

(10)  In official   correspondence, if   the    designation of an officer is typed, his officiating status (if he is an officiating officer) should not be indicated    by the    word ' Officiating' before the designation.

(11)  If there are enclosures to accompany a communication, they should be indicated by an oblique line (thus/) in the margin against the paragraphs in which they are referred to.

(12)  Copies should be made on the smallest sheet consistent with the dignity and requirements of the communication.    The appropriate form where one has been prescribed should be used.

(13)  The typist should invariably type his initials with date at the left hand corner at the end of a fair copy and should also initial with date in ink on the left hand top corner of the draft (or in the appropriate place in the page, if one is printed there).

(14)  Drafts or letters should be kept as office   copies, and carbon copies should be made only when the draft has been so extensively altered as to make it necessary to have a clean copy. When possible, the carbon copy of a letter should be typed upon the back of the letter to which a reply is being sent.   Apart from the fact whether or not the office copy of the draft is extensively corrected, when it is stencilled, a stencilled copy should also be retained in the file. It is the duty of the drafting section to see that instructions are clearly and fully noted on the draft for issue before it is sent to the typist for copying, such as, whether it is a reference or a final disposal, and, if a final disposal, its nature, the person or persons to whom it is to be sent, and if the whole of it is not to be com­municated to all of them, the portion to be communicated to each, the enclosures that are to accompany it, noting which of them should be sent in original and which to be copied and sent, whether the communication should be sent by registered post and if so, whether the addressee's acknowledgment is necessary. The typist and examining clerks should see that the paper is accurately copied in accordance with the instructions before it is sent for despatch. Note—(i) In the matter of typing any mistakes brought to notice will entail punishment on the typists and comparers concerned. The Superintendent and the Officer who signs the fair copy will also be liable to disciplinary action. In regard to faults in grammer, construction, and sequence, sub­ject clerks and Superintendents will primarily be to blame, though typists, comparers and those who sign fair copies are also expected to detect obvious mistakes. All ranks should pay attention at every stage to drafting and fair copies.

(2) Care should be taken to see that papers in good condition are used especially for fair copies going to Govern­ment.

118.  Despatching—Despatchers should despatch all    papers on the day on which they are signed. The despatcher should affix the ' despatched' seal with his initials and date in the office copies after he has put the fail copies (with enclosures) into covers. Those covers that are to be sent by post will be sent straight to the post office and those that are to be delivered locally will be kept ready for despatch by peons. Covers marked urgent should however be sent immediately by peons. Acknowledgment of all covers delivered by peons should be taken in delivery books. The despatches should daily examine the local delivery books and see that all deliveries have been duly acknowledged.

119.  Stamp Account.—The despatcher will maintain no des­patch register for papers sent out of Hyderabad.   The only registei that he will keep for this is the stamp account which will be in the following form:

stamp account of the board of revenue (branch.........)

Value of stamps

- - - - - - - - - - -

Received        Spent         In hand

-         - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Superintendent in charge of the fair copy section will verify the expenditure entered in the register in lump daily by examining each batch of covers and parcels before it is actually despatched. Expenditure on telegrams will also be entered in the register.

120. Procedure after despatch.—From the despatch entries in the office copies, the despatcher will fill in the date and initial in column 7 of the work book. He will then sort the office copies according to sections, enter them in a note book and return them to the drafting clerks taking their acknowledgements in the note book. The drafting clerks will note in the last column of the per­sonal or periodical register as the case may be, the disposal num­bers assigned by the numbering clerk to Board's proceedings Press/Misc. Routine series and transfer all final disposals to the Record Keeper and obtain his initials, in the last column of the personal or periodical register against the currents, finally disposed of. Before tarnsferring the Board's proceedings the Clerk should take care to note their numbers and dates inside the jackets of the connected previous Board's proceedings. Ordinarily every paper which has been copied and despatched should come back to the drafting clerk within four days of the date of the paper. If any paper is received by him after four days he should see whether there was any delay in its despatch and bring the delay, if any, to the notice of the Superintendent with a view to action being taken against those responsible.

121.  Examination  of  work  books-—The  Superintendent  in charge of fair copy section should examine the work books daily to see that every paper entered in them has been attended to with­out delay.    He should particularly satisfy himself that all papers signed and sent to the despatcher have been duly despatched and that there has been no avoidable delay in any case.    He should affix his initials in the last column of the work books after examin­ing them.   He should submit to the officer in charge of the current duties every day, the progress made in the fair copying and despatch work on the previous day and weekly progress reports on the first working day of each week and through him should submit the weekly progress report for the perusal of Secretary and take suitable action if there is any slackness.

122.  Fair Copy and despatch of Demi-Official and confidential correspondence—There is separate typist for fair copying demi-official communications and confidential proceedings.    He works with the confidential clerk.   All demi-official communications and confidential communications given by the subject clerks should be attended to after obtaining the 'Issue' order from the heads of the sections.   If the confidential draft is a Board's proceedings in the Mis./Routine Series, the Confidential clerk will have it numbered in the concerned numbering book (Appendix VIII) maintained by the numebring clerk in the current section and have the number assigned entered on the jacket and the number and date on the tabling slips on which should also be typed the abstract of the

 

 

CHAPTER XI

Printing and Proof Correction.

123.  When printing to be preferred to roneographing.—Print­ing being cheaper than roneo work,—the former should generally be resorted to in the case of all communications (Orders, Memo­randa, U.O. notes, etc-) which require wide circulation.    Roneo work should be restricted to really urgent matters where printing cannot be done in time.

124.  What   Papers   may   be   printed-—Great   care shall  be exercised in ordering the printing of proceedings and connected notes.   The printing of proceedings should ordinarily be restricted to cases coming under one or other of the following heads: —

(i) Important cases.

(ii) Orders establishing important precedents or containing general instructions or rulings.

(iii) Papers likely to be required frequently for reference in more than one branch or section in the future.

(iv) Orders of general application necessitating communication to a large number of officers.

125.  Printing to be authorised by Gazetted Officer.—(i) No paper shall be printed except under the orders of a Gazetted Officer or except in accordance with standing instructions.    Superinten­dents should submit orders to print for the initials of the Assistant Secretary concerned and should note in the Press slip the number of copies to be printed.

(ii) Great care should be taken to see that the number of copies to be ordered to be struck is not greater than is really neces­sary. The Officer placing the indent for printing should furnish a certificate in his own hand to the effect that he is personally satisfied that the number of copies indented for is really necessary and has been fixed with due regard to the availability of paper. Indent not accompanied by the certificate will not be complied with.

126.  Confidential Printing.—Confidetnial Printing costs twice as much as ordinary printing and confidential papers have to be enclosed in double covers which involve   extra   expenditure   on stationery    The practice of unnecessarily making papers 'confi­dential' should therefore be guarded against and .is few copies as possible should be printed of confidential papers.

127- 'Urgent Printing.—Urgent printing costs considerably more than ordinary printing- Papers for printing should not therefore be marked 'Urgent' unless it is really necessary to do so. No work for the Press should be marked 'Urgent' unless certified to by an officer of rank not lower than a section Superintendent. Calls for 'Immediate' printing and for work time for return within 24 hours shall ordinarily be made by a Gazetted Officer and not by another Officer for him.

128. Press Clerk.—The Press clerk should take charge of papers to be sent to the Press and receive those from the press. He will maintain a press Register in the Form in Appendix XVI in two sections one for entering all regular proceedings of the Board and the other for entering all miscellaneous matter sent to the Press to be printed and all miscellaneous requisitions to the Press He receives Proceedings from the subject clerks, acknowledg­ing them in their note books. After examining the papers to see whether they contain complete instructions for the Press, he will enter them in his register and hand over the files to the despatcher, taking his acknowledgement in a note book kept for the purpose-The Press register contains columns to show the stages of progress in printing until the Board's proceedings are printed and 'Sign and spare' copies are received. The Press clerk will see that each column in the Press register is filled up in due course and submit the register for the inspection of the Officer in charge of current duties once a week through the Record Keeper under whom he works with a note calling attention to the cases in which there is delay and suggesting the issue of reminders. He should note the following orders in the subject.

(a)  proofs  of  Proceedings  of moderate  length  should  be returned to the Press corrected the day after their receipt and as a rule, no proof should be detained in office for more than three days at the most.

(b)  Delays of more than a week in the receipt of sign copies .from the Press should be brought to the notice of the Record Keeper by the Press clerk. He will put up draft telephone reminders to the Superintendent, Government Press for the approval of the Officer in charge of current duties.

(c)  The Officer in charge of current duties will bring eases of undue delay to the notice of the Secretary with the explanation of all concerned.

The Press Clerk's responsibility is limited to seeing that papers are printed expeditiously; for the correctness of the printed copies, the drafting clerks are wholly responsible; accordingly proofs with the originals will be forwarded to them for examination and clean copies will also be sent for their approval before they are submitted for signature.   Proofs will be left with the drafting clerks concerned after taking their initials in the column provided for the purposes in the Press Register, when the proofs are returned to the Press clerk, the drafting clerks will similarly affix their initials in another column in the press register.   When "sign" copies are received, the press clerk will send one printed clean copy to the drafting clerk to certify on the docket sheet that the copy is correct and may be submitted for signature.    The Press clerk will then send the copies to be signed by the Gazetted Officers concerned to the numbering clerk who will submit them for signature along with fair copies prepared in the current section. One copy of every printed proceedings signed or initialled  by the gazetted  officers concerned should be filed with the original.   All copies intended for Collectors and other officers will be signed by the Superinten­dents concerned  like  other  fair copies.     The  press  clerk  will ascertain daily what spare copies have been received from the Press and fill in the columns in the Press register showing the number and date of receipt of the spare copies.    When both 'sign' and 'spare' copies of Board's proceedings have been despatched, the despatchers will place their initials with date in the last column of the press register.   The responsibility of the press clerk for the papers then ceases.

 

CHAPTER XII

Indexing

129. The instructions regarding indexing given in the District Office Manual should be followed mutatis mutandis.

Circulation of tabling slips-—The indexer will collect all tabling slips as they are received from the current section and circulate them the next day—taged together—to all the gazetted officers borne on the Board's establishment and the Members with a list of numbers in each series that are being circulated.

Index of Routine Series.—Routine (including Press) Board's proceedings:—The slips relating to these proceedings, as they are received back will be kept by the indexer and at the end of the month will be sorted in strict alphabetical order and bound together in a loose leaf binder. At the end of the year, the slips of the twelve months will again be sorted into a strictly alphabetical series and bound up in as many loose leaf binders as may be found convenient. These books will form the permanent index of Routine Board's proceedings.

Index of Miscellaneous and Press Series.—The indexer will arrange them at the beginning of each year in strict alphabetical order and send them to the Press in a batch. Before sending the slips to the Press the indexer should score out all entries that need not be repeated from one item to the next and also make out separate slips for cross references—see sample entry in the margin (*) and put them in their proper place- He will carefully check the proofs when received and verify that no Board's proceedings has been left out- He will then send the proofs back to the press and obtain the usual number of copies (of the index only) for distribution in the office and subordinate offices.

 

CHAPTER XIII

Records

130.  Sections of the Record Department.—The records of each branch are maintained separately with reference to office orders issued by each branch.  Confidential records are also similarly maintained separately.

131.  Duties of the Record Keeper—The duties of the Record Keeper are: —

(a) to supervise generally the record room and the arrange­ment of records;

(b) to supervise generally the work of attenders;

(c)  to maintain the attendance register of the attendars and submit attenders' leave applications with his recommendations,

(d)  to deal with requisitions for copies or spare copies of Board's proceedings received from Collectors and other officers;

(e) to submit notes for the destruction of records in accord­ance with the rules laid down for the purpose (vide appendix XIV.)

(f)  to examine the record shelves periodically and keep the papers free of dust and protect them from white ants;

(g)  to issue reminders to Collectors and other officers for the return of papers produced in Courts of law;

(h) to see that stamps are punched in accordance with the instructions in the Stamp Manual;

(i) to see that all new Board's Proceedings are received in the record room within a week of their despatch and to bring to the notice of the Assistant Secretary and delay on the part of the drafting clerks in sending them to the records;

(i) to return papers obtained from other offices like forest, central survey office after getting acknowledgments in a transfer book

(k) to see that the stamps affixed to petitions or enclosures to petitions in the final disposals sent to the records by the drafting clerks are punched a second time with the diamond punch and to bring to the notice of the Superintendents concerned cases in which stamps have not been cancelled at all by the drafting clerks. The record keeper will maintain a register for the receipt and disposal of copy applications in the form in Appendix to B.S.O. 173 paragraph 10. This register will be submitted once a week to the officer in charge of current duties for check. At the end of every month the Record Keeper will prepare a list of copy stamp papers typed by each typist and hand it over to the Superintendent, current section to enable him to put up the bill for remuneration to typists. The accuracy of the bill with refer­ence to entries in the register of copy applications should be checked by the Officer concerned.

132.  Duties of Attenders.—As  soon as  the  record  room  is opened the attenders sort the papers returned by the drafting clerks and the other officers and distribute the records among themselves according to the years allotted to them and put them back in the respective record bundles.   Afterwards the attenders are distributed for reference work etc. Two attenders remain daily till 6-00 p.m. with the turn record clerk.

133.  Receiption and issue of records—'The following rules relate to the issue from and the receipt of records into the record room: —

(i) No paper, whether original or spare copy, shall be issued from the record room except on a requisition therefor in a dummy slip prescribed for the purpose. The several columns of the dummy slip should be duly filled in, signed and dated by the clerk requiring the paper. As a rule, the current number for which a paper is required should be entered on the dummy slip and when this cannot be done the purpose for which the paper is required should be stated in full. The slip should then be sent through the section peon to the record keeper who, after counter initialling it, will hand it over to the attender in charge of the paper. The attender will take out the paper, substitute the dummy slips in its place in the concerned bundle, enter the current number of the paper for which it is required on the jacket at the right hand top corner in the case of original disposals in B.P. Mis./Press/Routine/ Series and also R, D and L Dis series and hand over the B. P. to the attender who maintains the record issue registers. The attender in turn will enter them in the Registers of the concerned sections and issue them taking the acknowledgment of the clerks concerned in the register. The issue number will be noted inside the docket of the paper issued and struck off when it is returned to the record room.

(ii) There will be a record issue register in the form pres­cribed for the purpose for each section and a separate register for papers issued to the other branches of the Office such as Excise, Court of Wards etc. These registers are maintained by one of the attenders deputed for the purpose under the supervision of the record  keeper. When a paper entered in the record issue register is returned, the attender concerned should note the date of its return under his initials and ring off the issue number in column-1.

(iii) To ensure the regular and systematic return of records to the record room, the record keeper should prepare on the first of every month an arrear list by each section for all the records which have been absent from the Record Room for more than 3 months together with the name and designation of the clerk to whom the record was issued and the date of its issue. He should at the same time furnish an extract from the arrear lists separately to each clerk to enable him to check whether the files referred to are still with him and to return them when no longer required for reference. A new requisition slip should be taken whenever a file or book has to be retained for more than 3 months since the earlier slip was issued.

(iv) When original record produced in Courts of law are not returned within a reasonable time, the Record Keeper should issue reminders. Whenever it is proposed to produce original records in Courts of Law or to send them to offices outside the Board's office the drafting clerks and the despatches are responsi­ble for seeing that the fact is brought to the notice of the Record Keeper for entry in the Issue Register. When records are sent for production in courts, there is no need to keep the case open in the Personal Registers pending return of the records. The instructions laid in the B.S.O. for such cases should be followed.

(v) No office notes and no minutes of or remarks of Members or Secretary should be sent with the originals to be produced in Courts of Law or other offices unless the Secretary specially orders that this should be done. In cases in which the Government call for the Board's records otherwise than in connection with a case pending on the subject dealt with O-O. 16/58 in these records, the section concerned should obtain the specific orders of the Secretary for sending the records. When the Board's records are sent out U. O. for remarks, the office notes or the minutes or orders of the Members or other officers shoud not be detached unless the Secretary specially orders that this should be done.

(vi) The procedure prescribed in sub paras (i) to (iii) above should be followed in regard to the receipt and issue of confidential records subject to the following modifications: —

(a)  the dummy  slip  should  be  signed  by the  section Superintendent instead of by the clerk;

(b)  it should be counter initialled by the   custodian of confidential records;

(c)  the receipt of the confidential paper should be acknow­ledged in the record issue register by the section Superintendent;

(d)  the record issue register should be maintained by the confidential attender under the supervision of the custodian of the Confidential records; and

(e)  the   custodian   should   get   every   month the lists of outstanding  records  for over three  months  prepared  and  take necessary action.

134.  Taking papers from Record bundles-—No one except a member of the record staff should needle with the record bundle either to take out papers or to return papers previously taken out. A notice will be put up on the door of the Record Room specifying the persons who alone are allowed to handle the record bundles and the record keeper will be held responsible for seeing that this order is obeyed.

135.  Records required from the Central Record Office—(i) When old records maintained in the Central Record Office are required for reference, formal requisition signed by the Superin­tendent concerned should be sent to the Director, Central Record Office.    Requisitions for old record relating to the East India Company's period should however be sent under the signature of a Gazetted Officer.    The requisition should specify the current or the purpose for which the papers are required.    The    currents should not be forwarded to the Central Record Office along with the requisition except in rare cases in which a perusal of the current may be necessary for the purpose of referencing.    In such cases a formal reference approved by the Assistant Secretary con­cerned should be sent to the Director, Central Record Office. When it is found necessary to forward currents to the Central Record Office, the clerks of Board's office should first complete their own referencing and definitely specify the papers required by quoting the number and dates or state the points on which further information is required.

(2)  When papers are urgently required telephone messages may be issued for them.

(3)  The records issued by the Central Record Office to the Board will be accompanied by detailed lists in triplicate in the following form : —

(1)  No. of the list.

(2)  Date of issue of the records.

(3)  No. and date of description of the records.

(4)  No. and date of the current or purpose for which requisitioned.

(5)  To whom issued.

One of the lists will be filed with the paper for the disposal of which the records have been obtained. The duplicate will be returned to the Central Record Office forthwith duly acknow­ledged by the Officer who requisitioned the records. The triplicate will be passed on to the record keeper who will send it to the Record Office along with the records as soon as they are returned to him by the section clerk. The triplicate will then be finally returned duly ackonwledged by the Central Record Office to the Record Keeper who will have them filed together. At the end of the year, the lists will be recorded in a miscellaneous Board's proceedings for future reference.

136.  Maps and Settlement Register-—The rules governing the issue of papers from the Record Room apply also to the issue of maps and diglott registers, from the map record room and the map record keeper will be guided by them.

137.  Stationery and Forms.—The Stationery and Forms clerk prepares the indents for them, gets them from the Stationery Office and issues them to the Sections on monthly indents forwarded by the Superintendents.   He should carefully maintain the issue book and watch that the expenditure is normal and bring to the notice of the Assistant Secretary cases of extravagance in the demands for stationery and forms.

 

CHAPTER XIV

Library

 

138. Control of Library and issue of Books-—The Library is in charge of a clerk. He is assisted by one or two attenders. Books are issued on requisition forms signed by the persons requiring them and counter-initialled by the librarian. Besides the requisi­tion slips which are kept as vouchers and returned to the persons producing the books, the acknowledgements of the clerks or Superintendents taking them are also obtained in the library issue registers. The issue numbers are ringed off as and when the books are returned. Books issued to other offices are also entered in this register. Ordinarily a month is allowed for the return of books issued to other offices. At the end of each month the librarian will have to prepare a list of books outstanding in other offices for more than a month and circulate it to the officers concerned. are

139. Library Registers.—The registers maintained in the library

(i) Receipt registers, (ii) Issue Register. (iii) Distribution register.

Duties of the Librarian.—

The duties of the Librarian are: —

(i) to see that the library regstcrs and catalogue of books are correctly maintained;

(ii) to watch the return of outstanding books;

(iii) to see that corrections are posted promptly in the books of reference in the rooms and houses of the Members and other Gazetted Officers;

(iv) to see that the attenders go round the rooms of the Officers daily to see whether the reference books in their rooms are in their places and in proper order and to bring the fact of any book being missing to the notice of the librarian;

(v) to keep the library shelves clean and tidy and free of white ants;

(vi) to make additions and amendments to the catalogue under the orders of the officer-in-charge of the library and

(vii) to deal with all papers relating to the supply of books and periodicals and news papers to the Board and Offices subordi­nate to it, and attend to all correspondence relating to the District Gazetteers.

 

CHAPTER XV

Checks and delays and arrears

 

140.  Duties of the section—Section clerks will be personally responsible for delays in the disposal of their papers at all stages. The responsibility should not be considered to have ceased when a file is marked for issue but continues until the process of despatch has been gone through and the paper is sent to the Records.    It is the duty of the Section Superintendents to ensure that no delay occurs which should with deligence be avoided and that no paper is shelved  by clerks.     To  enforce  this  he  should   thoroughly examine the personal registers as well as inspect from time to time the papers pending with each clerk.

141.  Time  limit for  submission   of papers-—The Assistant Secretaries concerned will carefully scrutinise each day's tappals and they are received and decide which of the first references from the Government or from  the heads  of departments,  can  be answered from the materials available in this office.    In matters where on the material available in the Board's office, a reply can be submitted to Government or sent to the heads of departments, a full note should be submitted to the Secretary or the Joint Secretary within three days of receipt in Ordinary cases, and immediately in more urgent cases.    The Superintendents may give time to clerks upto a week "where necessary.    Where circumstances warrant further time the papers should be put up to the Aissistant Secretary concerned.   Where, however, reports have to be called for from the districts reasonable time for the final submission of the report will have to be decided by the Assistant Secretary concerned subject to approval by the Secretary or the Joint Secretary in important cases and Government moved for the sanction of that time.   Consistent with the time limit thus decided, a date should be fixed by which  the  Collectors  should  submit their reports. Drafts from orders should be put up to the Officers on the day after the receipt of the file by the clerk in the case of short drafts and within two days in the case of long darfts.    Urgent papers should   be  submitted  with  the  least  delay  possible.     Current marked 'Special' should be dealt with immediately on their receipt in the section. The Superintendents of sections may order of filing of com­munications with pending currents where no action is called for on them.

142. To  effectively  watch  the  disposal   of  correspondence every Gazetted Assistant should maintain 3 Register of D.O. letters and every Superintendent a Register of important Refer­ences and Exchange Reminders in the forms noted below : —

 

register of D.O. letters

SI. No. and date

From whom received

Outside No. & Date

Title

Bd's refe­rence, if any, Branch Section and clerk

How dis­posed of

Remarks

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Register of Important References and Exchange Reminders

SI. No.

Date of receipt

Title from whom & outside No. and date

Section current No.

Action re­quired & datte by which the reference is to be put up

Date of

submis­sion by Superin­tendent

Date of despatch of report for the reference received

Re

ma­rks

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

143. Inspection of Personal Registers.—Superintendents will inspect these registers regularly once a fortnight. They may scatter their inspection work over the fortnight provided that they inspect each clerk's register on the same day of the fortnight so that each register will be inspected at regular intervals. Their notes embodying the results of their inspection will be written in running 'note files' one for each personal register and these 'note files' should be kept in the Superintendent's custody. The inspec­tion should be made with a view to find out whether action has been taken on the papers as promptly as possible, whether the time limit has been observed and whether reminders have been issued promptly and whether all rules of the Office Proceedure have been followed in all cases. The pending files should be frequently checked with the entries in the registers and the correctness of the entries in the registers should be verified by checking some of the entries with the pending files including those shown as being in circulation and also with the files noted in the personal  registers as having been disposed of. Superintendents should also endeavour to compare the numbers in the distribution registers with those in the Personal registers and satisfy themselves that all the distribution numbers allotted and acknowledged by the clerks in the distribution registers are accounted for in the personal registers. The notes made must be very brief and should quote the numbers of the files in which the defects are noticed. The personal registers of each section together with the running note files containing the Superintendent's remarks should be submitted to the Officer concerned in accordance with the prog­ramme prescribed for the purpose in office orders. The Officer will return the personal registers with his own remarks in the running note files. The Superintendents will be responsible for seeing that the defects noticed are reminded immediately and for carrying out the orders of the Officer in the running note file. The Officers will also report to the Secretary concerned if any Superin­tendent or clerk whose work is found not satisfactory and who in any way violates the rules. The registers and the running note files will be submitted to the Secretary or Joint Secretary concerned (not less than once a month on prescribed days or as prescribed in Office orders and the procedure laid down in the foregoing sub-paragraph will be followed in respect of remarks made by the Secretary. If the due date for the check of personal registers happens to be a holiday, the registers should be put up for check on the next working day. Likewise, if the subject clerk happens to be on casual leave on the day on which his personal registers are due for check, the registers should be"fat up for check on the day of his return from casual leave.

144. List of returns to be placed on the Assistant Secretary's table.—The periodical registers of the clerks should be scrutinized by the Section Superintendents once a fortnight. It is possible that some periodicals may be due on the next or subsequent days, with the result that any delay upto the next day of check cannot be noticed. To get over this difficulty, each Superintendent should maintain a calender sheet in the following form.

 

Name of the                                Dates in the month

clerk by designation     128456789 10 11 12 18 etc.

Name of the  clerk by designation

Dates in the month

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 etc.

Al.

10

A2.

12              15

AS.

4          6

A4.

7

A5.

9          11

 

The numbericals noted under dates 1,2, 3 etc. represent the Periodical numbers. The sheet should be prepared at the begining of each month. Every day as soon as a Superintendent attends the Office he should examine this chart and find out if the periodicals due on any particular day have been despatched and if not he should take necessary action to expedite the despatch. To this end he should have a running note file, on which he should make his comments in regard to each clerk, get his replies, ring off the entries relating to disposed of items and instruct the clerks in regard to any delayed items. The chart and the R. N. file should be put up to the Assistant Secretary concerned, and to the Secretary of Joint Secretary as the case may be for check along with the personal and periodical registers.

Often, the periodical returns received from the Collectors are being registered in the Personal Registers as fresh currents, and they are afterwards clubbed with the connected periodical file. This procedure is not correct. There are common series numbers for the several periodical returns "due to the Board from the Collectors. The reports received from the Collectors have to be clubbed with the concerned periodical files in the first instance itself. They should not be registered as fresh currents and then clubbed with the connected periodical files (please also see para­graph 55 supra).

Normally no advance reminder need be issued in respect of weekly, fortnightly or monthly periodicals. In exceptional cases where they are to be issued, care should be taken to see that they actually reach the officers for whom they are intended, sufficiently in advance. Else, the very purpose of the advance reminders is lost. In respect of quarterly, half-yearly, annual, biennial etc-, periodicals, the issue of such reminders should in no case be less than 2 weeks in advance of the due date. Slight delays in the despatch of outgoing periodicals are likely to occur if the files are not submitted to Members sufficiently early. In order to avoid such contingencies, each periodical (except weekly and fortnightly) which are to be circulated to the Members should be put. up by the Clerks atleast 5 days before the due date for scrutiny by the Superintendent. The Superintendent should scrutinize the file and pass it on promptly to the Officers concerned so that the file reaches the Members at least two days before it is due to be issued out- The Clerk concerned will be held responsible to see that this instruction is carired out. Weekly and Fortnightly periodicals should be circulated in special pads as the 5 days time will not be possible in this case and despatched promptly to reach on the due date.

145. Arrear lists-—Detailed lists of papers received up to the i5th and the last day of each month and not disposed of by the day before th« lists are submitted should be submitted by each section to the Secretary or the Joint Secretary as the case may be through the respective Assistant Secretaries and Officers in charge of sections, a week later, i.e., on the 23rd of the month and the 8th of the next month; the lists will show the state of the work on the evening of the day previous to the date of the submission of the lists- If the day on which the lists should be submitted happens to be a holiday, they should be submitted on the next working day. There will be a separate detailed list for each clerk in each section with an abstract for the section as a whole. The abstract will be in the following form: —

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Section

Pending at the beginning of the period

Receipts

Total

No. disposed of during the period

Balance

Details of the balance Circulation

Other Secs.

In the sec. Lieover

Remarks

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The head of each section should append to this abstract a certificate to the effect that there are no papers pending action in his section for over ten working days without 'lie over' orders being obtained for them. Along with the arrear list, each section will also submit a deailed list of papers which are over 3 months old and append also in abstract of it as prescribed in Office Orders. Currents on which intermediate references have been made will be on the list against which replies are received provided such replies remain undisposed of and are ripe for inclusion in the arrear lists.

146. Scrutiny of arrear lists-—The Assistant Secretaries will carefully scrutinise the lists of papers pending in the Office and also the list of papers of over 3 months old and bring to the notice of the Secretary or the Joint Secretary as the case may be any undue delay in disposal especially in the case of references from Government. For this purpose they will call for and examine any file in regard to which they feel any doubt whether it is being unnecessarily delayed. They will submit the arrear lists of their sections with their remarks for the perusal of the Secretary or the Joint Secretary as the case may be.

147. Detention Lists-—Detention list should be prepared by every clerk in the prescribed manner. They should be submitted every day by each clerk to the section head at 11 a.m. The Assist­ant Secretary concerned will see them every day and give instruc­tions as to how the currents should be disposed of and suggest measures for minimising the delay at every stage of the file. The detention list should contain the current numbers and subject of the ordinary paper which remains for over 3 days and of the urgent papers which remain without action for over 24 hours. Clerks are in the habit of showing in the detention lists only papers in which initial action has not been taken. This should not be the case. Such of the references or files which have remained without action being taken for over 3 days at any stage in the ordinary cases and over 24 hours in urgent cases should be noted in the detention lists. This is very important. Assistant Secretaries and section heads should take every great care in the scrutiny of these lists and make it a point to suggest ways and means to the clerks for minimising the delay at every stage and see that business is 'carried on with utmost promptitude and efficiency. At the end of every week in the detention list, the Superintendent must certify to the effect that he has overhauled all the papers with the clerks concerned and found that no paper was laid aside without any action being taken.

148. Delays with officers and in Circulation—The subject clerk is primarily responsible for the safety of the files in his seat. If a particular file is not returned from the Assistant Secretary within 3 days, it is the duty of the clerk to search for it and bring the fact to the notice of the Superintendent if it cannot be traced. The Superintendent should then take such action as is necessary to trace the file. Similarly, the Superintendent of a section should on every Monday or the next working day if Monday is a holiday, bring to the notice of the Officer concerned any cases which his periodical inspection or registers shows to have been with a superior officer or in circulation for more than a fortnight. In order that he may discharge this duty efficiently, he will ensure that cols. (6) and (7) of personal register are posted up regularly.

149. Delay in Issue.—All papers marked for issue are ordinarily expected to be issued within 24 hours of their receipt in the Issue section. At the end of the day, the Superintendent in charge of the issue section will obtain a list showing the number of papers pend­ing with typists and with examiners and despatchers and note the number of papers received for issue during the day and the number of papers pending and report to the officers concerned any paper unduly delayed. In any case, papers pending issue at the end of the day shall be attended to as the first thing on the following working day and shall be despatched before the close of that day.

150. Call Book.—A file should not ordinarily be closed until the subject dealt with in it has been finally disposed of. When replies cir orders are expected, the file should be kept open till such replies or orders have been received and disposed of. In some cases it will not be possible to take any action for an appreciable time, e.g., the Government or the Board itself may call for a report to be submitted, after a year or so, say, on the working of some rule or on the adequacy of some establishment or the need for retaining it or it may be thac a paper can not be disposed of till a suit is decided which may take years- In these and other similar cases there is no point in simply keeping the file open till the time for taking action arrives. In such cases the files may be closed as soon a? everything that can be immediately done has been done but necessary entries should at the same time be made in the call book in the form in Appendix X so that the matter may not be lost sight of. No paper should be transferred to the call book unless no action is due in the office for a period of at least six months from the date of the proposed transfer to that book. A call book will be maintained for each section by the Superintendent concerned. When orders are passed to close any file with a 'call book entry' that file should be given a final disposal number. Any reference ordered in that file should be treated as final or if there is no such reference, the papers should be 'recorded'. Columns 1 to 5 of the Call book should at the same time be filled in and the entry relating to the file in the personal register should be closed by this final disposal. At the same time the serial No. and date of entry in the call book should be noted in red ink in the last column of the personal register. If the expected report or reply is received before the date entered in column 5 of the call book, the current number and date of that reply should be entered in column 6 of the call book and the entry in the call book would thus be closed. If the expected report or reply is not received before the date entered in column 5 a note file should be opened by the subject clerk not later than the date entered in column 5 and should be sent to the tappal clerk to be given a current number. This should be given a new current number and should be entered in the personal register of the clerk concerned and also in column 6 of the call book. The entry in the call book would thus be closed. In either case the original disposal file in which the call book was ordered should be called for from the records and be treated as a ' preious paper' and all further papers to it should be noted on the inside of the docket sheet of that disposal. No entry is to be made in the call book except in accord­ance with the written order of the officers concerned and such an order must always specify the date for the further action to be taken.   When the draft B.P. or L-Dis. is put up which involves the call, the fact that the call has been entered in the call book will be recorded at the end of the office note with the number of the entry in the call book.   The officer passing the draft will initial this entry. The call book of each section will be in the custody of the Superintendent. He will be responsible for taking action as indi­cated above. He will examine the call book once a fortnight and submit it to the Assistant Secretary in the first week of each month along with the personal registers.

151. Issue of reminders-—Heads of sections should note at the foot of drafts submitted by them for approval the date when a reminder should be sent.   The date should be fixed with refe­rence to the nature and urgency of the    reference   and to the instructions given below.    The Officer who approves the draft finally will approve or alter the date.    The date so approved or altered should be noted by the clerk in pencil in the last column of the personal registers against the paper, concerned.

152.  Reminders to Government.—Reminders    should    issue once in three months.    They should be in common Form No. 41 with the lower half of the Form being scored out.

153.  Reference to Collectors   and other   officer—(a) Special references in which a date has been fixed for the reply-—The first reminder should be issued a week before the replies of Collectors and other officers are due with reference to the date fixed for the reply and should be in the form of an exchange reminder If their reports are not received on the due date, D.O. reminders should be issued to Collectors in needy urgent cases.

In other cases, if there is no reply to the ordinary remin­ders, exchange reminders should be issued to the Collectors 10 days after issue of the first reminder. If no reply is received, a D.O. reminder should be issued seven days after the exchange reminder. If a second D.O. reminder has to be issued, the file should be submitted to the Board's Members concerned. Where the Collectors report that their reports are delayed for want of the subordinates' reports, the Collectors should be asked to explain what steps they took to get their subordinates' reports in time and to submit a copy of the charge Memorandum framed agatinst the subordinates concerned.

(b)  Government calls referred to Collectors or other officers or other urgent calls.—The first reminder should    ordinarily be issued a month after the issue of the reference and should require the Collector to state when the reply may be expected.    In the second reminder which should be issued a fortnight later, if no reply is received to the reminder or immediately after the date mentioned in the reply to the first reminder, the Collector should be requested to state the cause of delay.   The third reminder, if one is necessary should be by demi-official and should be issued a fortnight later.

(c)  Ordinary reference.—The first reminder should issue two months after the issue of a reference and the second a fortnight later.    This second reminder should enquire the cause of the delay and the probable date of receipt of reply.   A third reminder which should be marked ' Special' should be issued a fortnight later and the Collector's attention should be drawn specifically to the previous reminder or the causes for delay; advanced in reply to the previous reminder.    If no reply to the original reference is received within the next fortnight or 3/2 months from the date of issue of the original reference, a demi-official reminder signed by Secretary or Joint Secretary should be sent.   Reminders to intermediate references will in all cases when not otherwise ordered be issued as for Government and other urgent calls.

The instructions above must be strictly adhered to except in special cases, and that only on obtaining the orders of the Gazetted Officers in immediate charge of the section.

154. Demi-official reminders-—Demi-official reminders should issue on the orders of and under the signature of the Secretary or the Joint Secretary if they are intended to the Collectors or on the orders of and under the signature of the concerned Assis­tant Secretary if they are intended to the Personal Assistants to Collectors. The following form of D-O. reminder will generally be adopted. No office copy of it need be kept in the file.

" My dear

Dear Mr.

Subject: —

I am to invite your attention to the Board's reference No. dated  and to request you to state when your reply may be expected.

Yours Sincerely,

To

"(Name and Designation of officer)".

An office copy of the reminder should be put up by the section concerned when the D-O. contains other matters.  Reminders to Heads of Departments, the Accountant-General and the Government should be signed by a Gazetted Officer and those to Collectors and other officers by the Heads of sections. The issue of reminders should be noted not only in the personal registers but also in the Office copies of the references to which they relate.

Reminders including demi-official reminders and replies to them which are not important from the point of view of the subject-matter of the file or for other reasons should after perusal be tagged together and placed underneath the file. After the file is finally disposed of, they should be destroyed.

155. Reminder Diary.—'The issue of reminders to outside officers and the initiation and resumption of reaction on papers will be watched in the section concerned under the following system: —

(a) Each section or each drafting clerk in a section, as may be decided by the Secretary, will keep a reminder diary in the prescribed form (vide Appendix XI).   This should be a manuscript form of 12 pages for one calendar year, bound in brown paper; on the outside should be entered the department, Ine section or branch, and if necessary, the clerk and the year.   This diary is intended to act as a reminder to the section or clerk that some action  is  necessary.    The first  column   ' Date' will be reserved for the date of the month.    In the second column should be entered the current number (C) of the paper or the number (P) of the periodical or the number (C.B) in the call book with refe­rence to which action is to be taken on that day.

(b) At the foot of every draft, whatever may be its form, which entails a reply the drafting clerk will enter in red ink a date for the issue of the first reminder thus " Reminder, 25th October 1953- This date may be altered by Superintendent if thought fit, or by any officer through or to whom the draft is submitted."

(c) On the return of the draft or note approved, the clerk concerned or the routine clerk of the section, as the case may be, will enter in the reminder diary the current number (C) against the date approved as that on which a reminder is to be issued if necessary.

(d)  When all replies are received to a reference the entry relating to it in the diary may be scored out.

(e)  If a case is entered in the call book, the call book (C.B.) number will be entered in the reminder diary against the date on which action is to be taken.

(f)  Cases which are ordered to lie over will also be brought on the reminder diary and below each 'lie over' order   there should be entered a date upon which action should next be taken on the case and the current number of the case should be noted against that date in the reminder diary.

(g)  Before the beginning of   each year, each   clerk   who maintains a reminder diary will enter every periodical with which he has to deal, by showing its serial number in the section register of periodicals against the appropriate date or dates in the diary. The date in each case will not necessarily be the date on which a periodical is due " in " or " out", but will be a date on which action must be begun e.g., in the case of a periodical due to Gov­ernment it may be the date on which an advance reminder should be issued and in the case of periodical due from the office to an outside authority the date will be such as to allow for preparation, noting and circulation and after these for despatch in good time-

(h) The clerk's first duty on each working day is to examine the entries in his reminder diary against that date and against any holidays immediately preceding that date- He will then examine the entries in the current register against the numbers mentioned on the reminder diary against these dates. If a current is closed no further action is necessary; if a current is not closed, the clerk should at once pick out the file from among his pending cases (which should always be arranged in order of current num­bers) and put up the necessary reminders for signature. If a call book number is shown in the reminder diary against the dates the clerk should ask the call book clerk for an extract from the call book [see sub-para, (e)]. If an entry in the diary relates to a periodical, advance reminder should be issued or other appro­priate action taken. When submitting reminders a further reminder date should be suggested and the number should be entered against this date, as approved or altered, in the reminder diary. In these cases, the files themselves need not pass beyond the Superintendent even if the reminder be signed by a superior officer. This process will continue until the reference is replied to, or the periodical is received.

(i) Superintendents, Assistant Secretaries and other officers concerned should from time to time check the reminder diary with reference to the pending files in the section.

(j') The replies to reminders should be submitted to officers for perusal and the date of next reminder already approved should be extended if necessary, subject to their approval.

Note.—The reminders, replies to reminders and notes relating to them should be kept distinct from the current file and note file and should be placed with the routine notes at the bottom of the case and removed when the case reached the final stage.

156- Delay in printing.—The Press Clerk    attached to    the Issue Section shall, whenever a paper has been more than five days with the press, issue a reminder.    This reminder shall, after the lapse of the first five days, be repeated at intervals of three days.    The fact of these reminders having been issued should be noted in the Press Register by the Press Clerk and on the return of each form from the Press it should, if no further action is re­quired, be filled by him.   The Superintendent of the Issue Section will be held responsible for a close and frequent scrutiny of the register of press papers with a view to the prevention of delays in the printing of papers.   Where the delay in the printing of papers. Where the delay is inordinate in a particular case it is his duty to bring the matter promptly to the notice of officers concerned through Superintendents of Sections.

CHAPTER XVI

Miscellaneous

157.  Communication of important G.Os. or B.Ps. to other branches of the Board of Revenue.—All the Assistant Secretaries and Heads of Sections should see that important G.Os. received by them and not marked to other branches which may need them are copied and sent to the other branches concerned.   The Tappal Clerk should clearly note on important   G.Os. of general nature, whether copy has been sent to other branches or not.

Similarly, B.Ps. arising in one branch should be communi­cated to other branches which need it.

158.  Reports from Subordinate Officers when to be received in duplicate-—Heads of Sections are requested to    see that the reports on important subjects in the annexure are received from subordinate officers in duplicate.    If any of the subordinate offi­cers fails to submit his report in duplicate in the above cases his attention should be invited to B.P. Mis. 381, dated 27th March 1947 and he should be asked to state why the Board's instruc­tions were not observed.

159. Procedure to be observed in regard to creation, sanction, extension of Gazetted Posts-—(i) All draft references to Govern­ment applying for sanction to the creation, or extension for a further period, of a post borne on the Cadre of the Andhra Pra­desh Civil Service (Executive Branch), i.e., a post of Deputy Collector should be shown before issue to D2                         and his initials obtained in the connected file. As soon as the Government orders sanctioning the proposal have been received a copy of such order should be taken and given to D2 and his acknowledgment obtained in the connected file. In cases when the appointment of a Deputy Collector is to be made approximately from a particular date, the section concerned should send a note approved by the Gazetted Officer in charge of the section indicating such date.

(2) D2...........................should submit the copies of such orders, or such notes without delay to Secretary. Where such orders extend the period of sanction of a post the date of expiry of the extended period should at once be entered in the monthly calendar of Officers returning from leave, etc., maintained by D2..............................                                                         

160. Noting dates of hearing in the Commissioner's Diary-Heads of Sections should send the appeal files to the camp clerk of the concerned Member as soon as a date of hearing is fixed by the Member.    The Camp Clerk will, on receipt of the file, see whether the date of hearing has been noted in the Member's diary and note in the file that the date has been noted in the Member's diary.    Heads of Sections should see that such a certi­ficate is obtained from the Camp Clerks concerned and they will be held responsible for any omissions.

161. Judicial decisions of the Board.—Sections dealing with stautory appeals and revision    petitions    should open a special register in the form specified in the annexure, for entering such appeals and revision petitions separately.    Each case will be first entered in the personal register and action of a  routine    and formal nature such as calling for proper stamp duty, necessary enclosures, etc., will be taken thereon, just as at present.    In the Commercial Tax Department, however, the distribution register numbers of such defective applications should also be entered in the personal register under the proper   date   with   the   remark " defective petition returned ". After these applications become complete in all respects with proper stamp duty, enclosures, etc., these appeals or revision and miscellaneous petitions will be entered in the special register under two separate sections—one for appeals and the other for revision and miscellaneous petitions-.   When such entry has been made in the special register, the original    entry in the personal register will be closed.   The special register will be checked along with the personal registers; and the pending appeals revision and miscellaneous petitions will be shown separately in a    separate section in the arrear lists.

Statutory appeal and revision or miscellaneous petitions will be separately numbered as follows: —

V.O.A. No.                  1 year                           (Vos-affeas)

V.O.R.P. no.              1 year                           (Vos-revision & Misc Petitions)

E.L.A.A. No.               1 year                           (E.L. Act affeat)

C.T. Acts.                    1 year                          

S.T.A. No.                   1 year                           (Sals Tax affeas)

S.T.R.R No.                 1 year                           (Sals Tax revision & Misc Petitions)

M.S.T.A. No.              1 year                           (Motor Spirit Tax Affeas)

M.S.T.R.P. no.     1 year                           (Motor Spirit Revision &Misc Petitions)

E.T.A. No.                   1 year                           (Entertainment Tax)

E,T.A.R.p. no.     1 year                           (Entertainment Tax   re­vision & Misc Petitions)

 

The initials of the Record-keeper should be taken in the last column of the Special Register in token of the receipt of the paper after final disposal, into the records. The papers will be kept in separate bundles in a separate shelf in the Record Room. For the purpose of indexing and retention, they will be treated just like usual B.Ps.

annexure

Register of suits revision petitions.under the Village Officer's Act

1.  Serial Number.

2.  Date of receipt of revision petition and date of taking on file.

3. Name of appellant revision petitioner.

4. Address of revision petitioner. Respondent Counter petitioner,respondent

5. Name of

6. Address of Counter petitioner.

7.  Counsel if any for revision petitioner.

8.  Counsel if any for    respondent.

Counter petitioner.

9.  Date of orders sought to be revised and authority by whom original orders passed and particulars of remedy sought.

10.  No. and date of reference to subordinate officers for records, etc.

11.  No. and date of reply.

12.  Date of issue of notices to parties or their counsel.

13.  Date of hearing.

14.  Date of Board's orders on revision petition.

15. Nature of disposal or brief particulars of orders passed, 16. Remarks.

Register of Appeals                  A.P.G.S.T. Act.

--------------------------    under    A.P.E.T. Act.

Revision petitions                     M.S.M.S.T. Act.

1.  Serial No. Current No.

2.  Name and address of applicant revision petitioner.

3.  Nature of order sought to be revised.

4.  Date of receipt.

(1)  No. and date of order appealed against.

(2)  Designation of Officer passing it.

5.  No. and date of reference   to    subordinate    officers   for records, etc.

6.  No. and date of reply.

7.  Date of issue of notice to parties or lawyers.

8.  Date of Hearing.

9.  Date of Board's orders.

10.  Nature of disposal with brief particular or orders.

11.  Remarks (whether copy of order taken to stools file, etc.).

162. Avoidance of demurrage due to tappal boxes being detailed at Railway Stations.—It sometime happens that the tappal boxes sent to camps to the Officers on tour do not reach them either because of the trains arriving late or because the Officers cancel their tour and return to headquarters or for other reasons. Consequently, the tappal boxes remain at the railway stations undelivered. In order that such tappal boxes are re­directed to the officers without any avoidable delay, the Camp Clerks should, on their return to headquarters, verify from the circulation clerk whether they have taken delivery of all the tappal boxes sent to camp and if any of the tappal boxes were not taken delivery in camp, they should at once take steps to get them back. At the same time, the Assistant Secretary (L.R.), Board of Revenue, should be informed of the fact, by a routine note.

163. inspection of secret documents in the custody of Collec­tor by Commissioner.—Whenever a Commissioner takes up the inspection of a Collector's Office, the camp clerk concerned should, two days before he moves into camp, remind the Secre­tary, Board of Revenue (Land Revenue) about the handing over to the Commissioner of the questionnaire form for the Inspection of secret documents in the personal custody of the Collector. If the two previous days happen to be holidays, the Secretary should be reminded on the last working day before the holidays.

164. Quick disposal of urgent matters dealt within camp-— Certain matters which members deal with in camp and on which they send instructions or notes of inspection to Office are not promptly attended to by the Office and even when they attend, it has been done in a routine manner. To ensure correct and prompt disposal, the Superintendents of the Sections concerned should, on receipt of extracts of tour notes, take instructions in person from Members at the earliest stage. All extracts should be renumbered and entered in the personal registers.

165. Measures for avoidance of delay.—In cases where it is obvious that Collectors will have to obtain reports from their Subordinate Officers such as Revenue Divisional Officers and Tahsildar;, the references from the Board may issue direct to such Officers marking at the same time a copy to the Collector. The Subordinate Officers should invariably be directed to submit their reports through the Collector of the district.

All clerks must see that papers received by them are dealt with as follows: —

(a)  Special.—Must be dealt with on the day of receipt.

(b)  Urgent.—Must be dealt with on the day of receipt or the next day or at any rate within two days.

(c)  Other papers—-Must be dealt with according to the date of receipt.    If they cannot be disposed of within the three days limit they must at all times be arranged on their tables according to the date of receipt with the earliest paper on top.

The Superintendent of the Section must each day or at least once in two days examine the papers on the clerks desks and verify whether the clerk is arranging the pending papers as pres­cribed above, whether a clerk is showing these papers in the detention lists, and if not, the Superintendent should see that the clerk is handed-up for punishment.

The Express Letter form may be used to expedite disposal and save t me in fair-copy. (If printed forms are not available, all that is necessary is to type at the top of the Letter the words " EXPRESS LETTER " and use telegraphic language as though it were a telegram. Telegraphic language should not of course be used where it would affect the clarity of the communication materially).

The capital letter ' G' should be marked distinctly in red ink against the titles of all references emanating from Government in the personal registers in order to distinguish such references from others. Such references should be dealt with, with greater expedition than other arising references.

Arrear lists.—Superintendents must check the arrear lists by an actual perusal of the files. Files pending for more than one year must be checked by the Assistant Secretary, Joint Secretary and Secretary, and Clerks should bring such files with their arrear lists to the Officers. The issue of reference reminders causes unnecessary work to current section in typing, comparing and despatching, which could be avoided by the issue of exchange reminders. The Superintendents of the Sections should insist on the clerks issuing Exchange Reminders wherever necessary.

A great deal of delay is caused by drafts not being put up in anticipation of the orders on the note- This must be done in future, and Superintendents, who fail, to do it, will be treated as in-efficient.

166. Service of notices—In cases where it is necessary to issue notices to the parties intimating the date of hearing of appeals and revision petitions relating to Village Officers, they should be sent to the Collectors concerned with a request to serve one copy of the notice on the party and to resubmit the original with the acknowledgment of the party in token of such service-

In the case of Hyderabad City they will have to be sent to parties direct by Registered Post (Acknowledgment due).

167. Transfer of file from one section to another—Superin­tendents and Clerks should see that whenever any file is transferred to another Section for disposal, in addition to handing over to the file to the concerned Clerk in the other Section, the Superintendent of that Section should be personally informed of the fact of such transfer and the file given a new number in the new Section and immediately registered in his Personal Register by the concerned Clerk.

168.  Communication of Stay Orders—All    sections of the Board's Office should note that " Stay Orders " passed by the Board should be communicated to the party concerned at once-Any one found sitting on them for even one day will automatically be charge-sheeted by the Secretary.

169.  Piecemeal References—Avoidance—A number of refe­rences were made piecemeal to a Collector to elicit information and consequently action on the file was delayed.    The Board deprecates    delays caused by such    piecemeal    references.    All points for clarification must be referred to in the first reference itself.

170.  Telephone Messages.—The telephone operators of the Board's Office will maintain a register in the form given below. As soon as a message is received, he should assign it a number (such as TM-i, TM-2, etc.) and send it   immediately to    the Superintendent of the Section to which it relates-   The Superin­tendent should acknowledge it in the register itself and return the register to the telephone clerk.

The register will be checked by the First Assistant once a month. The telephone clerk will submit to the First Assistant on the 5th of every month for check.

Sl. No.

Date and time of receipt

Subject in brief with outside No. & date if availa­ble

From whom received

Acknowledgement of the Sec. Supdt., with date and time of receipt

1

2

3

4

5

 

 

 

 

 

171. Mistakes in Fair Copying.—The Government have more than once pointed out in correspondence received from the Board, typing errors, as well as, faults in grammar,    construction    and sequence.   In the matter of typing, any mistakes brought to notice will entail punishment of the typists and comparers concerned. The Superintendents and the Assistant Secretary who sign the fair copies will also be liable to punishment-    In regard to faults in grammar construction and sequence, subject Clerks and Superin­tendents will primarily be to blame, though typists, comparers and those who sign fair-copies will also be expected to   detect obvious mistakes.    The Assistant Secretaries should see that all ranks pay attention at every stage to drafting and fair-copying and avoid further criticisms from Government.   The Secretary should punish all persons responsible for errors in drafting and typing which are noticed in fair copies before or after issue.

172. 'Transfer of charge of clerks—Procedure.—Whenever there is a change of Clerks from one seat to another (even within the same section) a list of pending files, stock files, books, etc., held under their charge should be prepared and the acknowledg­ment of the relieving clerk obtained in that list when handing over charge to his successor. The list should be prepared in triplicate. One to be kept by the outgoing Clerk or Superinten­dent, the second being kept by the incoming Clerk or Superin­tendent and the third being handed over to Superintendent (Record Section).

173.  Typewriters—Maintenance of machine cards.—A machine card    should    be    maintained    for    each    typewriter    in    the Board's Office in the prescribed form as per the instructions con­tained in paragraphs 78 and 79 of the Stationery Manual-    The typists are responsible for the proper handling and maintenance of the machine while in their charge, and whenever there is a change in the personnel of the typist the exact condition of the machine should be noted, signed both by the outgoing and incoming typists on it and if any parts are found missing or if any defects are noticed the individual who takes charge should bring it to the notice of the First Assistant for necessary action through the Assistant Secretary concerned.   A copy of the charge list of the typist should be filed in the stores for further reference.   The First Assistant will check up the machines including duplicators once in a quarter in the first two weeks of the month    succeeding    every    quarter.   The machine cards should be kept in the custody of the Superintendent, Current Section when the machine is out of order or is sent for repairs.   It is also the primary duty of the Superintendent, Current Section, to note the defects of the machine on the machine card before the machine is actually sent to the company for repairs-

174.  Cycles—Custody and maintenance-—The peons  doing duty in Officers Bungalows are responsible for the safe custody and proper upkeep of the Government cycles in good    running condition and to see that no damage is caused by careless or rough handling.    Each bungalow peon shall produce the cycle before the Superintendent, Current Section, once in a month. These instructions apply also to the Duffadar (cycles for office use). The dates on which the cycles should be produced are given below. If a particular date happens to be a holiday, the cycles should be produced on the next working day, failing which disci­plinary action will be taken against the peons concerned.  Bungalow cycles of. Dates in each month.

Commissioners,    Secretary   and    Joint    1st and 2nd. Secretaries. Assistant Secretaries. Current Section Office. 3rd and 4th.

The Superintendent, Current Section should inspect the cycles on the prescribed dates. He will note the condition of the cycles and the results of his inspection in a register (to be called the cycle inspection register) and submit the register to the First Assistant so that he may take action where necessary against the persons responsible for careless handling. Separate pages should be allotted for each cycle with its number and the designation of the Officer to whom the peon using the cycle is attached. The Superintendent, Current Section, shall see that lubri­cation is done on the day of inspection and he will be responsible for seeing that cycles are brought regularly for his inspection.

175. Andhia Pradesh State Gazette—Circulation—As  soon as the Andhra Pradesh State Gazette is received by the Tappal Clerk it will immediately be circulated to the Gazetted Officers. The Assistant Secretary (L.R.) will go    through    the    gazette in   detail  and   mark  important   orders   and   notifications,   that relate to the Board in coloured pencil in the margin, endorse reference thereto on top of the circulation slip and then circulate it to the other Officers on the very day of receipt.   After the circulation to the Officers is over, the gazette will be sent round to all Sections.   The Sections will also go through the gazette inde­pendently in detail and note such of the orders and notifica­tions referred to by Assistant Secretary and of such other orders and notification as concern the work dealt within their sections ind take necessary action.    The entire process of circulation of any particular gazette to Officers and Sections should be completed within a week and the gazette should reach the library at the end of the week.   The Superintendent, Library Section, will be respon­sible to see that the movement of the gazette is finished within the week. The Law Journals and other legal and official reports are now  circulated to officers first and thereafter sent only to a few sections.    This practice serves no purpose as important judgments in which the Board has any   interest are not   brought to   the pointed attention of all officers immediately and also as quite a few sections do not see important decisions.   Also with the fre­quent transfers of staff from one section to another; it is advisable that all Superintendents know at least the main principles of important decisions.    To ensure this the system of circulation outlined below will be followed. The Superintendent. Record Section will go through these Journals on receipt and endorse reference on the circulationslip   to important orders or judgments.   The publication will be then circulated to all Officers and then to the concerned Sections as early as possible.   Subsequent action will be as for the Andnra Pradesh State Gazette. When important Court decisions, etc., are published, a brief extract of the points raised and decided with full reference details, must be kept on the stock file con­cerned.

176.  Working arrangement during absence of clerks—When­ever a clerk in any section goes on leave for more than 2 days, he must, unless a substitute is appointed or another clerk is put in additional charge by the Superintendent concerned, hand over all his pending papers to the Superintendent of the Section who will arrange to attend to all papers of the clerk during the period of his leave both urgent and ordinary.    If a clerk absents him­self unexpectedly and cannot handover his papers, the Superin­tendent is responsible for taking charge of his papers and attending to them himself till the clerk's return   or  till   a   substitute  is appointed or another clerk is put in additional   charge by the Superintendent concerned.

177.  Suit papers—How to be dealt    with.—(a) Immediately the Superintendent concerned reads the papers, he should mark on it boldly " Suit paper " and also mark the last date for further proceedings in Court (where it is a question of filing written statements or appeals or a time limit is fixed).

(b)  The paper must be treated as " Special" at all stages.

(c)  It must be noted on and submitted to the   Assistant Secretary concerned, within   twenty-four   hours-    If   tracing of records, etc. would take a longer time, the paper must be taken by hand to the Assistant Secretary concerned and his permission obtained to hold over the papers for the tracing of   connected files.

(d)  When detention lists are submitted daily the number of papers relating to the filing of appeals or filing of a draft written statement for which there is a time limit must be clearly given in the detention lists so that the Superintendent and the Assistant Secretary concerned may be aware of the position from time to time.   (This is outside the normal definition of what should come into the detention list).

178.  Receipt of replies from other   Sections.—Any   section that sends its file to another section will allow, in normal cases not more than one week and in urgent cases not more than one day for the receiving section to return the file with its remarks. It shall be the responsibility of the referring section to ensure that the file is received back within the stipulated time.    If the file is not received back, the concerned clerk will meet the Super­intendent of the receiving section and arrange to get back the file.   If this attempt is also unsuccessful, the Assistant Secretary will be apprised of the situation by the referring Superintendent.

179. Urgent papers on holidays'—On all occasions that and Assistant Secretary or Superintendent peruses daily tappals, when-ever he comes across papers which should be attended to urgently, he must make a special note to that effect thereon and see that action is started immediately on that current and pursued through without delay, irrespective of any holidays following immediately. If it appears to the Superintendent that the paper has missed the notice of the Officer concerned, he must also take it to his notice. Clerks dealing with such papers must understand that—

(a)  no excuse (that holidays intervened) will be accepted if the paper is delayed; and

(b)  such urgent references should  be dealt with as  high-priority in the record section also and records concerned traced out immediately.

180- Custody of the Keys of the Office and moms of officers and also duties of watchmen.—(i) Of the 4 chowkidars working in the Land Revenue and Settlements branch, 2 chowkidars will be on duty from 8.a.m. to 6 p-m. and the other 2 chowkidars will be on duty from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. each day. The 4 chowkidars will do night duties by turns which will be arranged by the First Assistant.

(ii) One set of keys of all   the   office   rooms   where   the ministerial staff is accommodated, will be kept in a sealed bag and handed over to the chowkidars.    Similarly, one set of keys of the rooms of the officers will be kept in a second sealed bag and handed over to the chowkidars.    The sealed bags shall be kept always in the personal custody of the watchmen and shall be opened  only in  case of emergency,  each  such  occasion   being recorded in the special register to be maintained for the purpose. The chowkidar   shall   hand   over   the   sealed   bags   containing the keys whenever they are relieved and  note the fact in  the register referred to.    The Register shall be put up to the First Assistant every day at 11 a.m.

(iii) The duplicate keys of the rooms where the ministerial staff is accommodated will be with the chowkidars in loose condi­tion and with the help of these keys, the chowkidars will open the rooms and get them cleanly swept before the staff arrives on each day.

(iv) The duplicate keys of the rooms of the officers will be in the custody of the peons working under the respective officers. The peons holding these keys shall attend office regularly by 10-00 a.m. every day, open the rooms in (heir charge, get them clearly swept and keep them tidy before the arrival of the concerned officers. The duplicate keys of the confidential sections (D and DD sections) will be in the custody of the Superintendents of the section concerned and they will make arrangements with one of their clerks by turns to have the rooms opened and swept suffici­ently early.

(v) The keys of the record rooms will be handed over to the Chowkidars on night duty every day in sealed bags after obtaining his or their acknowledgments. The Record Superintendent will take back the sealed bags each morning immediately on arrival and get the record room opened. Duplicate keys of each of the record rooms will be kept in the custody of the Assistant Secretary concerned.

(vi) The two chowkidars on duty shall keep awake by turns and keep watch over the buildings. Immediately after all clerks leave the office, the night duty chowkidars shall see that the lights and fans are switched off and then shall close all the doors. During the course of their watch they shall go round the office building and see that no untoward incidents happen.

(vii) The chowkidars on duty shall not allow any stranger to enter the office compound during nights without the permission of the officer not below the rank of Assistant Secretary. The instructions already issued regarding the steps to be taken in the event of occurrence of fire, will continue to be in force and these must be scrupulously followed.

181. Issue of Telegrams.—Telegrams should not in the routine course be used as reminders for obtaining periodicals. Savingrarns addressed by name and D.Os. calling personal attention should be issued as they will not only be more effective but will also be more economic. Telegrams should be used rarely e.g., (i) in suit cases where the defence of a suit or appeal or the date of filing a suit or appeal happens to be at short notice; (ii) where answers to Legislative questions or any other important reports have to be obtained with­in a specified date; (iii) cases where there is specific direction from Government to obtain reports telegraphically; (iv) cases involving seasonal havoc or fire accidents and (v) other cases in which the officer passing the draft telegrams considers it essential in place of D.O. or Savingram. Such telegrams should ordinarily be marked "ordinary", unless for reasons to be recorded in writing it is found to make them "urgent". Telegrams which are to be issued must reach the Fair copy section early so as to make it convenient to send them to the Post office before 1 p.m. To watch whether or not the instructions aie followed, the sections should note on the drafts the hours at which the draft telegrams are sent to the F.C. section and the latter in its turn should note the hour at which the telegrams were sent to the Post office.

182. Disposal of urgent work on holidays—Duties of staff on turn duty.—The following staff will be put on turn duty for attend­ing to urgent work in the Board's office on holidays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Superintendent.—1.

Upper Division Clerks.—2.

Lower Division Clerks.—2.

Telephone Operator.—1

Typists.—2.

Record Attender—1.

Peons—4.

Driver.—1.

Sweeper—1.

One of the  Upper Division clerks should send all  name letters to the residences of the Officers concerned through a cycle peon at about 2 p.m.   He should open all tappals and telegrams with the assistance of the tappal clerk and peruse them.   In cases there is any specially urgent paper which cannot wait till the next working day, the U. D. clerk should hand it over to the Superin­tendent on duty.    The Superintendent should either deal with the paper himself or make arrangements for its being put up on the same day by sending for to the Superintendent or clerk con­cerned in case it does not relate to his section and cases of such a nature that he cannot himself deal with it.   The addresses of all the Superintendents and other staff of the office is hung up on the wall close to the seat of the Superintendent, 'E' section.    After attending to the paper, the Superintendent should hand over the file to the U. D. Clerk on duty for sending it on to the Assistant Secretary, concerned through one of the peons with specific instruc­tions to get back the file after approval.   In case the file required the approval of either the Secretary, Joint Secretary, or Member, the peon may be asked either to return to the office for attending to other work or to attend to some other work already allotted to him.   The Assistant Secretary concerned will arrange to circulate it to the officers concerned and to send the file back to the office through his house peon.    The U. D. Clerk should also see that: drafts approved in the case of specially urgent papers are fair copied, compared and despatched on that day without fail. The L. D. clerk will attend to the comparing of fair copies along with the typists and will give relief to the Telephone opera tor as and when required.  The despatcher will attend to despatch work.   The telephone operator will have his seat at the switch Board and will not only give telephone connections as and when required but will also receive messages, if any. Copies of the lists showing the names of persons posted for turn-duty will be furnished to the First Assistant; Fair copying Supervisor, the Superintendent and the U-D. clerk on turn duty by the Superintendent of the Establishment section on the work day which precedes the holiday. Covers received on holidays by "Express delivery" including those with the Superscription "Periodical-urgent" should be opened by the Superintendent on turn duty and the contents initialled by him with date. He should hand them over to the tappal clerk on turn duty who should distribute them to the sections concerned.

183.  Disposal of urgent work after working hours on other days.—The following staff will be put on turn-duty on all working days from 5 p.m. to 6-30 p.m.

2 Typists. 2 Comparers, 1 Attender. 1 Despatcher. 1 Peon. The Fair copy Superintendent will arrange turns and also maintain the turn register in this regard. The turn staff should not only attend to the despatch of urgent work entrusted to them, but also receive all communications brought for delivery and marked "By Special Messenger" "Most Immediate" and "Very urgent". All name covers among them should be sent to the residences of the Officers concerned immediately and the rest handed over to the Tappal clerk the next day at 11-00 p.m. precisely. On holidays usual turn staff will be on duty up to 5 p.m.

184.  Circulation of tour programmes of Ministers.—The Tour Programmes of Ministers etc., received in the Tappals should be given to the Supervisor by the Circulation clerk immediately on receipt and the former should circulate them to all the officers in the Board's office with the utmost promptitude and keep them in a separate file after circulation.

185.  Maintenance of Attendance Registers.—Every Gazetted Assistant in the Board of Revenue will maintain an attendance register in respect of the sections working under him.

The Assistant Secretaries, the Officer on Special duty for Irrigation Projects, the First Assistance, and the Personal Assistants or Assistant Secretaries concerned as the case may be in other branches will maintain attendance registers at one each for the sections working under them.                   

After allowing the marking of attendance till 11-10 a.m. the Personal clerks of the aforesaid officers should prepare abstracts of the absentees in the form appended in a separate book and put them up at 11-15 a-m- to the Assistant Secretaries, Personal Assist­ants and other officers concerned on all working days.   After peru­sal of the attendance registers and approval of the abstracts by the officers, they should be submitted to the Secretary in regard to the Land Revenue and Settlements branch and to the concerned Ex-Officio Secretary of Ex-Officio Joint Secretary in regard to other branches by 11-30 a.m. positively.   It shall be the responsibility of the Assistant  Secretaries  or other officers  maintaining  the registers to see that the time is kept up.

For every two days of late attendance without permission, a day's casual leave will be forfeited and the late permission that can be granted to an individual who applied before hand, will be up to i-oo p.m. only.   Any day on which a member of the esta­blishment attends office after   i-oo p.m. but before   2-30 p.m. whether with or without permission will be treated as half a day's casual leave.   Attendance after 2-30 p.m. will be treated as full day's casual leave.

 

Date

No.of sanctioned strength

No. present

Namae of persons absent

Designation

Reasons for absences

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

186. Auditing of the Accounts of the Board of Revenue by the Audit Party of the A.G's. office—The accounts of the office of the Board of Revenue, will be inspected by the Audit Party of the Accountant-General's office every year.    On receipt of intimation of the date of inspection, the Assistant Secretaries, or other Gazet­ted Assistants, in the several branches should have a preliminary check and keep the accounts ready for the inspection of the audit staff.   Before the audit staff actually arrives, the Secretary should be apprised of it and orders should be obtained in circulation to make the accounts available for scrutiny.

All objections raised during the course of the audit will be communicated by the Audit party through memoranda in the forms A, B and C prescdibed in Government Memo. 6211/57 Accts/55-2, dated 20-11-55 (copy appended).   Any factual informa­tion of an important nature should be given to the party only with the knowledge of the Secretary.    Replies to objections    raised should invariably be got approved by the Secretary before they are furnished to the inspecting staff.   Based on these replies, the draft inspection notes will be prepared and it will be discussed by the Inspecting officer with the secretary on the last day of the inspec­tion and finalised in the light of discussions,

[Copy of Government Memo. No. 62115/Accts./55-2, dated 29th November 1955 of Government of Andhra (Fin.) Department.]

Subject.—Audit objections—Intimation of   revised procedure to be followed during Local Audit.

"The Accountant-General has addressed the Government on the above subject saying that he is of the view that the number of objections raised by his office during local audit can be reduced considerably, if a more effective opportunity is given to the Heads of offices concerned to study each objection in detail during the course of the local audit, to present their view points to the audit staff as far as possible and to settle it with the audit staff, instead of merely having the audit report discussed with the Heads of Offices on the last day of inspection as is being done at present. The Accountant-General has accordingly formulated the following new procedure: —

All objections raised during local audit will be com­municated to the Heads of offices inspected through memoranda in Forms A, B or C (copies enclosed). All objections to which replies are required, and are important enough to go into the audit report or audit note will be_noted in Form 'A'. Form 'B' will be used when any urgent or important information is required. All remarks which are intended to be noted for future guidance by the office inspected will be recorded in Form 'C'. The Remarks in form 'C' should be noted by the office and the form will be filed by the audit staff after scrutiny. This statement will be filed by the audit staff after scrutiny. This statement will be utilised by the test audit Accountant during the next audit for verification. The objection memoranda should be scrutinised by the Heads of offices concerned, discussed with the test audit Accountant or the Inspect­ing Officer, if necessary, and replies issued to the points raised therein. The Inspecting Officer or Accountant will then proceed to draft the audit report and note in the light of the replies received. Since the points that are included in the audit report, which is finally issued, will be based to a large extent on the replies of the Heads of Offices to the objections originally raised, it is essential that the replies should be complete, exact and authoritative.

2. Heads of Departments are informed that they should follow the above procedure strictly and should take steps to ensure that the replies which are. issued to objection memos are as com­plete and exact as possible and that the replies are issued over the signature of  the Head of the office himself or of the officer next below him, if the former is not in station. They are also requested to see that replies are furnished within twenty four hours of the receipt of objection memos, so as to enable the audit staff to compile the report in the limited time allotted to them for audit. Even under the revised procedure outlined above, the draft inspec­tion report will be discussed by the Inspecting Officer or Account­ant with the Head of the office on the last day of the Inspection and modified suitably, if necessary in the light of the discussions. "3. In order to avoid correspondence on minor irregula­rities, it has been decided by the Accountant-General that Heads of offices need not send, in future, report to his office on the action taken by them on audit notes.    Instead, the inspecting party conducting the next inspection will verify the action taken by the Head of office concerned on the previous audit note and suggestions for future guidance left with him at the time of the last inspection and make a report to the office of the Accountant-General.   Heads of offices should note that in view of what has been stated above, the responsibility for taking the necessary action in this matter will rest mainly on them.   Replies to audit reports will continue to be sent to the office of the Accountant-General as at present.

"4. Heads of Departments are requested to issue suitable instructions to the concerned Heads of offices under their control in order to ensure that the revised procedure prescribed by the Accountant-General is strictly followed.

FORM A.

(TO BE PRINTED ON FOOLSCAP FOLIO)

To be returned with reply

No. Office

Objections or Suggestions

Reply of Head of office

 

 

FORM B

(TO BE PRINTED ON FOOLSCAP FOLIO)

To be returned with reply

 

No.

Office of the

From

To

Sir,

Reply

I am to request you finish the information etc., required below,

                                                            Yours faithfully,

 

FORM . C

statements showing irregularities and omissions in accounts and registers (other than those in payment and adjust­MENT vouchers) with instructions and suggestions for  FUTURE GUIDANCE.

 

S.No.

Particulars

Instructions or Suggestions

 

 

 

 

187. Maintenance of Telephone Trunk Calls Register— Personal Clerks to Officers who have direct phones, and the tele­phone operators who were in charge of PBX, should maintain trunk call registers in the form given below in which the parti­culars of the trunk calls as and when booked through the respective phones are entered. The registers should be made available to EE. section on demand for verification while settling relative bills.

 

form

Sl.No.

Date

phone no.

office by whom call is booked

place to which and the officer to the call is booked

nature of the call whether ordinary of unagent

duration of the call

connected file no. of the office

initials of the officer p.c.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

 

 188. Control and usage of motor vehicles attached to the Board of Revenue.—Vehicle will be under the direct control and super­vision of the First Assistant.

Whenever vehicle is required for official purpose there should be written requisition to the First Assistant. It should be signed by the applicant and duly countersigned by the concerned Gazetted Assistant and it should give the date, purpose of the journey, and approximate distance of the journey to be covered

The vehicle should be intended for only urgent work which cannot be got done without it, e.g., through a bicycle peon. The First Assistant should allot the vehicle with reference to availability and necessity and issue a permit slip to the driver.

The Log Book will be kept with the First Assistant. As soon as a journey is made, the concerned Gazetted Assistant will obtain the Log Book, make the necessary entries and attest them. In column 7 of the purpose of the journey should be clearly stated. The distance in column 6 should be carefully and correctly noted with reference to the readings of the Milometer in columns 3 and 5. Where the milometer is not working, the distance in column 6 should be noted and the entry attested by the driver.

Whenever petrol is required, the driver should give a requisi­tion to the First Assistant, stating the quantity available, in the tank and the quantity required. On the indent issued by the First Assistant, the driver should obtain the petrol from the bank and supply entry got attested by a responsible Government Servant.

The Log Book should be scrutinised by the First Assistant every day and put to the Secretary once a week and to the Member once a month.

The driver should keep the vehicle cleaned and oiled every day and obtain orders for servicing once a month.

N.B. -On Holidays, the requisition for the vehicle will be attended to by the Turn Supeerintendent.

ANNEXURE.

1. Matters relating to Agency tracts in   Visakhapatnam, West Godavari, East Godavari and excluded Areas.

2. Reports submitting town planning schemes.

3.  Recommendations for the assignments of town sites in cases where the previous sanction of Government is necessary.

4.  Cases of assignment of land under B.S.O. No. 15-22 and 23 where the previous sanction of the Government is neces­sary.

5.  Entertainment of temporary staff (Land Revenue) on behalf of Local Boards, the expenditure of which will be borne by the Local Boards.

6. Proposals for temporary establishments whose cost is debitable to ' 5. a. L.R. charges  of administration. A. Taluk Establishment.'.

7.  Proposals for the employment of temporary clerks for work connected with the collection of resurvey charges.

8.  Proposals for the employment of Town Panchayat Surveyors-

9. Application for temporary establishment in connection with irrigation projects.

10.  Entertainment of assistant karnams for   village   panchayat courts.

11.  Reports of misappropriations, etc., over Rs. 200—2 copies (one to Government and the   other   to   the   Accountant-General).

12.  Land Acquisition—Collector's letters forwarding draft notification under section 4 (i) and draft declaration    under section 6.

13.  Sanction of estimates for famine relief works in agency tracts.

14.  Applications for funds from local boards.

15.  Proposals for the joint verification of frontier boundaries.

16.  Reports on the settlement of frontier boundary disputes.

17.  Progress report on land acquisition,

18. Irrigation Advisory Boards and Panchayats—Annual Report-19. Flood Reports. 20. Remission Reports (General Suspensions of Revenue).

21.  Irrigation—Minor—M.I.  Staff—Proposition statements.

22.  Proposals for temporary establishment   for work   connected with the maintenance of estate surveys and    record of rights—operations.

23.  Proposals for the employment and retention of additional staff.

24.  Proposals for the appointment of    Arbitrators    under    the Defence of India Rules and   copies of   awards of the Arbitrators.

25.  Proposals for the payment of arrears of pay, etc.

26.  Applications for the appointment of special staff for work connected with the well subsidy schemes.

27.  Collector's reports on hard cases in which subsidy is recommended to be paid with the special  sanction  of the Government.

28. Proposals for employment of additional staff in Commercial Taxes Department.

29.  Applications  for house allowances  in    Commercial    Taxes Department.

30.  Reports on misappropriations of public funds in Commercial Taxes Department.

31.  Recommendations for sanctioning of arrears of pay, etc., to staff in Commercial Taxes Department.

32.  All Reports on adverse seasonal conditions.

33.  Proposals for the employment of temporary establishment in connection with famine or adverse seasonal conditions or on account of evacuee relief work.

34.  Proposals for the continuance of political   pensions   which require Government sanction.

35.  Proposals for scheme suits under section 92, Civil Procedure Code.

36.  Land Acquisition Establishment Special staff for Land Acqui sition work—Entertainment—Sanction,

37. Proposals for opening of post and telegraph offices.

38.  Alienations of land and land revenue in cases where the sanction of Government is necessary.

39.  Proposals relating to the   Colonisation   Schemes in   Araku Valley in the Vizagapatnam district, etc.

40.  Reports called for by the    Governmnet    from    Collectors through the Board.

41.  Proposals for temporary establishments where cost is debitable to ' 18 Irrigation—Minor Irrigation—Revenue Depart­ment'.

42.  Proposals for temporary establishment required in connection with the working of Estate Land Act.

43.  Notifications under sections 17 (b) (ii) or 5 and 17 (b) (ii) of the Survey and Boundaries Act.

44.  Proposals for temporary establishment for work    connected with the maintenance of Ryotwari Surveys.

45.              Proposals for the appointment of Special Officers to examine the demarcation to see that the interests of Government and of the Local Board's have been safeguarded under

46.  Chapter XIII

Rule 201 Survey Manual Volume I.

46.  Collectors' reports on the petitions addressed to the Government.

47.  Proposals for employment or retention of temporary staff for strengthening treasuries or other causes.

48.  Proposals for employment or retention of temporary village establishment.

49.  Report under   section 12 of the C.W. Act 1 of 1902 for assuming superintendence of an estate.

50.  Proposals for leave of lankas without   auction to individual members of depressed classes.

51.  Proposals for renewal of lease of lankas without auction where increase in existing rentals is proposed.

52.  Reports on all petitions for assignment of land, etc., called for by the Government and submitted by Collectors through the Board.

153.  Proposals for the grant of prospecting licences and mining leases where the prior orders of the Government have to be obtained and matters relating to employment of temporary establishment.

54.  Arms Act and Rules—Grant of licences and petitions against

refusal in cases where Government have called for report through the Board.

 

APPENDIX—I.

madras regulation x of 1803.2.

(THE MADRAS BOARD OF REGULATION, 1803).

 

A Regulation for defining the duties of the Board of Revenue, and for determining the extent of the powers vested in the Board of Revenue.

Whereas it has hitherto been usual for the Board of Revenue to exercise judicial authority in the determination of certain cases of a civil nature appealed from the decision of the Collectors, who were entrusted with the administration of the revenues and the distribution of justice in their respective districts; and whereas Courts of Judicature have been established for the ' purpose of administering justice in all cases, civil and criminal, it is expedient that the judicial authority heretofore exercised by the Board of Revenue should be formally abrogated in those districts where Zilla Courts have been establish and whereas it is important to the security of the persons and property of those for the protec­tion of whom the said Courts have been established, that the powers and authorities entrusted to the said Board of Revenue in respect of the executive administration of the revenues, should be defined and published; wherefore the following Regulations have been passed by the Governor in Council.

2 * Oath to be taken by members of Board Consequences of violation thereof 8 'Repealed by   Central Act X of 1873).

4. Duties of Board of Revenue-—The duties of the Board of Revenue have been, and hereby are declared to be, the general superintendence of the revenues from whatever source they may arise, and the recommendation of such propositions to the State Government as in their judgment may be calculated to augment or improve those revenues.

* Minor changes have been directly incorporated in the text printed above and not noticed in the footnotes here).

* St. George Gazette, 1930, Part I, page 1392. As to arrears of revenue recoverable under Madras Act II of 1864 this Regulation is inoperative. (See s. 62 of that Aetse

5. Superintendence and control of persons employed in execu­tive administration of revenues.—The Board of Revenue have had, and are hereby declared, to have authority to superintendent and control all persons employed in the executive administration of the public revenue, ail zamindars or proprietors of land paying revenue, and all farmers, securities, raiyats or other persons con­cerned in, or responsible for, any part of the revenue of Govern­ment, as far as the said superintendence and control may relate to the executive administration of the revenue under the regula­tions now enacted, or to be hereafter enacted.

6- Meetings of Board.—The Board of Revenue shall assemble two days, at the least, in every week for the despatch of business.

7 *Qoururn.   (Repealed by Madras Act I of 1894, s. 1.).

8.  Board to use official seal.   Inscription thereof—The Board of Revenue shall use, in the transaction of official business a circu­lar seal two inches in diameter,   bearing in the   English and/or Hindi and such other languages, if any, as may be specified by the State Government, the inscription: " The seal of the Board of Revenue " and no other seal shall be used by the Board of Revenue.

9.  Board's proceedings to be reported to the State Government as often as required-—The Board of Revenue shall annually (or as often as they may be required) lay before the State Government a general report of their proceedings, to be drawn out summarily, and under the distinct heads of districts, with reference to the dates of the consultations in which each subject is contained, which sub­ject shall be respectively continued in each successive report from the date of the report proceeding.

10.  Board to keep two sets of proceedings—The   Board of Revenue shall keep two separate sets of their proceedings one set for the broken periods to accompany the general report above ordered and the second set to be kept in the office.   The Board of Revenue shall prepare and annex a copious index for the second set

11.  Acknowledgment of the receipt of letters from the Stats Government.—The Board of Revenue shall invariably acknow­ledge the receipt of all letters from the State Government, reciting in abstract the substance of the letters so acknowledged, and the steps they have taken in consequence.

12.  Records to be preserved complete.—The Board of Reve­nue shall be careful to preserve their records complete and shall transmit to the State Government, with the whole set of their proceedings, a list of all records, and of all papers not entered on the records.

13.  Accords not to be copied or   removed   from office.—The Members of the Board of Revenue shall not have copies of any part of the records, nor remove any of the records from the Office of the Board of Revenue.    Members of the Board of Revenue wishing to refer to the records shall   cause such   records to be brought into the meeting room of the Board of Revenue, and shall peruse them there.

14.  Reference to Government records—When the Board of Revenue may have occasion to refer to the records of Government they shall apply for such records to the State Government.

15.  Papers in Indian languages to be accompanied with transla­tions.—The Board of Revenue shall accompany all papers in the Indian Languages which they may transmit to Government with translations in English.

16- All propositions to be submitted through President.—All propositions or suggestions intended by individual members for the consideration of the Board shall be submitted through the channel of the President.

17.  No new propositions discussed till previous question dis­posed of—Where new propositions may arise during the conside­ration of a question, such propositions shall not be discussed until the previous question shall have been disposed of.

18.  Majority to decide—Questions at the Board of Revenue shall be determined by a   majority, and the   resolutions of the majority shall be the resolution of the Board and shall be carried into execution accordingly.

19. Opinions of members how taken—In deliberation, where questions may be put to the vote, the opinion of the junior mem­ber shall be first recorded, and then the opinions of the other members, according to their rank upwards.

20.  President to have casting vote.—Where a   difference of opinion may happen, and where votes may be equally divided, the President shall have the casting vote but the proceedings on any question shall, at the motion of any member, be referred to the State Government.

21.  Dissents frorn majority when recorded—A member dissent­ing from the majority of the Board may record his dissent at the time, or at a future meeting, but no minute shall be recorded on the proceedings of the day unless delivered in before the adjourn­ment of the Board, nor shall any alteration be made in opinions once recorded without the consent of all the members of the Board.

22. Rule in referring matters for decision of the State Govern­ment.—The Board of Revenue shall accompany all references made to the State Government, of their proceedings on matters requiring the decision of Government, with a letter stating sum­marily the nature of the subject submitted, and with distinct opinions and recommendations on each subject for the considera­tion and decision of the State Government.

23.  Power to entrust specific duties to particular members- — In cases where it may be necessary for the despatch of business, the Board of Revenue may commit the charge of any specific duty to a particular member, but in no other case shall the members individually exercise any authority.

24.  Powers of   President   with   respect tc    meetings—The President of the Board of Revenue shall have authority to appoint and to change the days of meeting, to summon extra meetings of the members, and to postpone the regular meetings    (provided, nevertheless, that two meetings be always held in one week), and to adjourn the Board at such hour as he may deem expedient.

25. Orders he may issue during intervals of meeting—The President, during the intervals of the meetings of the Board, may issue, of his own authority, such occasional or subsidiary orders as shall, in his opinion, be necessary for carrying into execution any existing resolution of the Board; to summon any person to attend the next meeting; and to issue orders to prepare materials for the consideration of the Board.

26.  Selection of business-—The President shall regulate and prescribe the selection and arrangement of the    business to be brought before the Board at each meeting,

27.  AH resolutions proposed by   President.—The    President shall propose resolutions on all papers read for the consideration of the Board, and may state specific questions for the opinion of the members on the business before the Board.

28- His powers in cases of emergency—The President shall have authority in all cases of emergency, while no Board may be sitting, to decide questions requiring an immediate decision, and to issue orders on all references requiring an immediate reply.

29.   * Provision for   judicial investigations  where   there is    no Zilla Court. (Repealed by Madras   Regulation II of 1806).

30. May have copies of any records or records themselves__

The President shall have authority to require copies of any records, or to have the records themselves, sent to him, for his perusal.

31.  President may call on Collectors for accounts.—The