Postal Manual Vol. VIII - India Post

404. Stamping of articles. – All articles received in a R.L.O. will be stamped with the
R.L.O. date-stamp when received, and again when despatched, even though the same date may
have to be impressed on both occasions.
405. Report of irregularities. – It is an important duty of the Manager of a R.L.O. to bring
to the notice of the Postmaster-General and Supervising Offices all irregularities detected, such as
needless redirection by post offices, and all instances f disregard of rules or carelessness on the
part of postal and R.M.S. officials. Case of a petty nature which constantly recur and all serious
irregularities must be reported to the Postmaster-General of the Circle, served by the R.L.O. All
other irregularities will be brought to the notice of the supervising officer of the post office or
R.M.S. section or office in fault.
406. Treatment of articles containing goods not transmissible by post. – The orders of
the Postmaster-General must be specially obtained as regards the disposal of postal articles in the
following cases :-
(a) Articles suspected to contain any explosive, dangerous, deleterious or filthy substance,
or anything likely to injure the mails or any officer of the Post Office.
(b) Articles found to contain anything indecent or obscene, or to bear on their outside, -
whether on the article itself, as in the case of a newspaper, or on the cover, - words,
marks or designs of an indecent, obscene, seditious, scurrilous, threatening, or grossly
offensive character.
(c) (i) A ticket, proposal, or advertisement relating to a lottery, or
(ii) any other matter descriptive of or otherwise relating to such lottery which is
calculated to act as an inducement to persons to participate in that lottery.
(d) Articles found to contain any other thing the transmission of which by post is
prohibited. (See Post Office and Telegraph Guide).
EXPLANATION. – (1) The procedure prescribed in this rule applies only (I) to cases in which
it is known for certain, either on the article being opened under the provisions of the rules in this
chapter or in any other way, that the contents are of a kind the transmission of which by post is
prohibited and (ii) to the case mentioned in clause (a). In other cases, where the contents are only
suspected to contain prohibited goods the procedure laid down in rule 122 (1)(b) of the Posts and
Telegraphs Manual volume V, should be followed.
(2) In case of lottery tickets, these will be destroyed under the personal supervision of an
officer not less than the rank of a Director, after the Post Master General has decided for their
destruction. Full particulars of the tickets, the serial No., name of the lottery, name and address of
the sender and the addressee of the sender and the addressee of the postal article containing the
tickets should be entered in a separate register. The entries should be attested by the officer who
should also record a certificate to the effect that the tickets were destroyed in his presence.
407. Treatment of articles containing goods prohibited from export. – All articles
received in a Return Letter Office bearing the endorsement contains prohibited (name of the article
the export of which out of India by post has been specially prohibited), will be forwarded for
disposal as follows :-
By the Calcutta, Lucknow and Patna R.L.Os.
By the Bombay and Nagpur R.L.Os.
By the Madras R.L.O.
To the Calcutta Foreign Post.
To the Bombay Foreign Post.
To the Madras Foreign Post