Postal Manual Vol. VIII - India Post

In submitting proposals relating to the revision of accommodation of any kind, the Superintendent
should deal clearly with the comparative merits of the proposal from a financial point of view.
188. Reports in connection with railways under construction.- When a railway is under
construction, the Superintendent of the division in which the new railway will probably be
included should ascertain from the local Superintendents of post offices the weight of the mails
carried on the existing mail lines, and the accommodation and establishment which will probably
be required by the Railway Mail Service on the opening of the new line, as well as the savings that
will be effected by the abolition of the road establishments. These particulars should then be
communicated to the Head of the Circle with information regarding the stations where it will be
necessary to establish mail offices and the accommodation required for them on the railway
platform.
CORRESPONDENCE AND OFFICE WORK
All Superintendents
189. Importance of executive control.- A Superintendent is primarily a supervising and
inspecting officer, and must now allow his correspondence and office work to interfere with his
personal supervision of the whole division, He should, by personal instruction to his subordinates.
Keep down his own correspondence as well as that of his subordinates, and should insist upon
postmasters or record clerks, as the case may be, corresponding direct with each other in all
matters of small importance.
190. Superintendent’s clerks.-(1) The Superintendent will distribute the duties of his
office among his clerks. A Superintendent’s clerk may not sign papers for the Superintendent, but
in special cases the Superintendent may authorise his head clerk or Assistant Superintendent to do
so, inorder to avoid delay and inconvenience. As an absolute rule, A superintendent’s clerk is
prohibited from signing any order of punishment or appointment, while papers relating to leave
and transfer, or any communication addressed to an official in another only when it is really
necessary for him to do so. He is also prohibited from making any temporary arrangement in the
way of appointments, leave etc.
(2) The Superintendent is not authorised to take a clerk with him except the Steno Typist
on tour, unless he first obtains the sanction of the Head of the Circle.
NOTE.- Each Superintendent’s office will be supplied with a Cyclostyle, if required, and the Head
of the Circle will supply the Superintendent on requisition, with any printed forms that he may require in
order to relieve his office establishment of copying work.
191. Disposal of correspondence.- The Superintendent must while he is at headquarters,
himself open all covers to his address and must not entrust this duty to his office. He should make
every effort to dispose of correspondence with promptness and punctuality. When a
Superintendent is away from his headquarters the Assistant Superintendent, if available, will open
official covers, received to the Superintendents address and dispose of the contents otherwise his
office should in order to save time, open official covers received to his address, so that cases may
be sent to him complete i.e. with all previous papers.
192. Closing of files.- When a file is finally closed, the Superintendent of the Assistant
Superintendent in the absence of the Superintendent, should himself write the words “File closed”
on it, and add his initials and the date. The Superintendent’s office should place all files that have
been closed apart from the pending files.