Postal Manual Vol. VIII - India Post

money orders in deposit with reference to branch office slips and registered and parcel lists
received for a few days prior to the date of visit. The Inspector should then satisfy himself that
articles and money orders have not been detained without justification and that VP and insured
articles do not bear any signs of damage or tampering. If any VP articles have been delivered
before the visit and, if the receipts signed by the addressees are in the branch office, the Inspector
should verify the correctness of the dates of delivery shown in the receipts.
271. Hours of business in branch offices:-The hours of business for branch offices will be
fixed by the Inspector of Posts who will issue a notice of hours of business in the form M-6© to
branch offices for exhibition. A consolidated statement of the hours of business of all branch
offices in his jurisdiction will be maintained, in manuscript, by the Inspector in the form of a
Register which will have only two columns, viz.(1) Name of the Branch office and (2)working
hours of the Branch Office. A copy of this consolidated statement should be furnished to the
Superintendent. Corrections and additions to the statement should be communicated by the
Inspector to the superintendent, as and when necessary, so that the latter may keep his copy
corrected Up-to-date.
272.Supervision of Village Postmen:- (1)The supervision of the village postmen attached to all
the offices(head, sub and branch) situated in his sub-division is one of the most important duties of
the Inspector. He should, when passing through a village in the course of a journey, ascertain from
the headman and others, whether the conduct and work of the village postman who serves the
village have been satisfactory and whether generally money orders for the villagers are paid
without undue delay. He should also verify payment of a certain percentage as fixed by the Head
of the Circle of money orders paid by postmen and village postmen in his jurisdiction but the
number should not be less than 25 in a month. The particulars of money orders and the result of the
verification should be noted in his diary and in the monthly list of money orders verified (Form
Genl.6) submitted with the monthly summary(Inspection-3).He should call for some of the
registers (MS-85) and visit books(MS-86) of each village postman, that have been filled up, and
when villages are visited by him, test the genuineness of signatures in the registers and visit books.
He should ascertain whether the village postmen have neglected to collect articles for posting or
refused to register articles, or have taken any paints to find the addressees of undelivered articles,
etc: and generally he should pay careful attention to and take every opportunity to test, the work of
work of the village postmen under his supervision.
(2) The Inspector should, whenever he meets a village postman out in his beat or at the
office to which he is attached, examine his bag to see whether he carries postage stamps, forms,
etc., and also his book of receipts are pasted to the counterfoils of receipts for articles registered by
him.
NOTE:- See Note below Rule 132.
273. Beats of Village postmen:-It will be the Inspector’s duty to prepare and prescribe
route lists and beat maps (M-53) indicating the beats of the village postmen attached to each head,
sub and branch office in his sub-division(Including first class head offices).Theses route lists and
beat maps should be supplied to offices to which village postmen are attached under the
Inspector’s signature .A copy of the route list and beat map should, however, be sent to the
Superintendent for record in his office and also to the account office of the branch office
concerned. There are two systems under which village postmen’s beats can be arranged, viz.,(a)
the fixed beat, and(b) the unfixed beat system.
NOTE:- see Note below Rule 132.