Postal Manual Vol. VIII - India Post

head of the Circle. The inspection of other sub-offices and of branch offices in general will be the
duty of his Inspectors, but the Superintendent should thoroughly inspect a considerable number of
branch offices branch offices every year so as to familiarise himself with their mode of work and
to check the work and supervision of his Inspectors. He should also, whenever practicable inspect
or at least visit any branch office which he passes or approaches in the course of his tours, or when
visiting other offices. Timely intimation should be given to the Inspectors concerned of the names
of the branch offices which the Superintendent intends to inspect or has actually inspected in the
course of his tours. A casual visit paid to an office during a tour or specially undertaken in order to
investigate a case will not relieve the Superintendent of the duty of carrying out a systematic
inspection. The number of branch offices to be inspected by the Superintendent of the duty of
carrying out a systematic inspection. The number of branch offices to be inspected by the
Superintendent will be fixed by the Head of the Circle. It will ordinarily be 10 per cent.; but where
the number of branch offices is large, the number to be inspected may be reduced but should not be
less than 5 per cent.
(3) The first inspection should be carried out in a thorough manner in accordance with the
standard questions, but may be extended to any other matters into which the Superintendent thinks
it advisable to enquire. The time required for the inspection of an office will depend on its size and
on the volume and state of work. An indication of the number of days considered necessary for the
inspection of each office should be given by the inspecting officers at the time of submitting their
annual inspection statement to the head of the Circle. The Superintendent should see that the office
working smoothly with the public and within its authorised powers, and that only the authorised
fees are taken by the different classes of officials concerned. He should also, whenever he is
present during working hours. Devote sometime to merely watching the establishment at work to
see whether there is any confusion. The Superintendent should make notes of the inspection on
plain paper in the form of replies to the standard questions which should be referred to by their
Numbers, no replies being given to those questions which relate to matters in which the work of
the office is found to be entirely in order.Any remarks that may be called for apart from the answer
to the questions, should be added at the end of the notes and the notes should be signed and dated
by the Superintendent and kept on record in his office.
NOTE- It is considered that the average time required for inspection should generally be in
accordance with the following table:-
BY S.P.O.s
or D.P.S.
By Inspectors
Presidency of Chief Head Offices 6 ……
Gazetted or upper selection grade head offices or
Sub-offices 5 ……
Lower Selection grade head offices or sub-offices 4 3
Time-scale sub-offices 3 3
Branch Offices 1 1
It should be kept in mind that the number of days required may be less in the case
of single-handed or non-combined or non-delivery offices and should be reduced by Heads of
Circles in the light of their local knowledge.