presentation on Office Procedure

Issuescoveringin the
Issue
Step Introduction Need of OfficeProcedure.
viz. Current file,
used in Office procedure,
Definition of some of the terms commonly

Dak, File, FR, Minute, PUC etc.

Maintenance of Dak -
a) Receipt of Dak. of Dak.
b) Acknowledgement
of Dak.
c) Registration
d) Distribution of Dak.
IV FileMaintenance
a) Standard Process Sheet.
submission.
b) Level of disposal & Channel of
c)Guidelines for Noting.
d) Modification of notes & orders.
e) Noting on files received from other Departments.
f) Oral discussion
g) Oral instructions by higher officers.
h) of oral instructions.
Confirmation
i) Filing of papers.
i) Arrangement of papers in a
case.

k) Referencing.
) Linking of files.
m) Use of urgency grading.
Forms and Procedure of Communication -
Demi-official office memorandum,
letter,
a) Forms of communication, viz. letter,
order, notification, resolution, press
inter-departmental note, office order,
note, endorsement & minute.
b) Single file system (SFS)
Authorities
References to Constitutional/Statutory
with State Governments
d) Correspondence
with Members of Parliament and VIPs
e) Correspondence
f) Target date for replies
Communication
Drafting &
-

VI
a) Procedure for drafting.
b) General instructions for drafting
c) Addressing communications to officers by name
VII File Numbering system
a) File Numbering System.
b) Transfer, reconstruction and numbering of files
C) Movement of files
VIll Records Management
a) Activities involved in records management
b) Stage/procedure of recording
c) Categorization of physical records
d) Precedent Book
e) Record Retention Schedule
f) Records maintained by officers and their personal staff
g) Requisitioning of records
IX Checks on Delays
a) Timely Disposal of receipts and monitoring of Parliamentary Assurances,
Parliament Questions, Applications under RTI Act, MP/VIP References,
CAT/Court Cases, etc.
 Issuescovering in the presentation on Office Procedure
Issue
Step
Introduction Need of Office Procedure.
on evolution of adequate
The efficiency of an organization depends largely them.
and the ability of its employees to follow
processes and procedures
official work in a government
Accordingly, the efficiency of persons handling
their ability to dispose of matters
-

organization like Railways can be judged by the procedures

mostly receipts, cases etc. with speed and quality, following
Government businesss is
of all
prescribed for the purpose. The ultimate object
to meet the citizens" needs and further their welfare.
At the same time, those
who are accountable for fair conduct of business have to ensure that public
funds are managed with utmost care and prudence. It is, therefore, necessary,
of what has been done but
in each case, to keep appropriate record not only
also of why it was so done. There is no prescribed MOP for Zonal Railways
Board. However, the procedure prescribed in CSMOP has been
issued by
suitably adopted for this purpose.
Definition of some of the terms commonly used in Office procedure, viz.
Current file, Dak, File, FR, Minute, PUC etc.
and office
Correspondence portion the portion of file containing receipts
include self-contained
copies of the communications issued from the file of
interdepartmental notes but excluding those recorded on the notes portion
the file itself.
Current file - A file on which action is not yet complete.
Dak- All communication received/issued by an office/department.
Dealing hand Any functionary entrusted with initial examination.
Docketing Making of entries in the notes portion of a file about the serial
number assigned to each item of correspondence (whether receipt or issue) for
its identification.
File a collection of papers on a specific subject, assigned a number and
consisting of one or more of the following parts: (a) Notes; (b) Correspondence
(c) Appendices to Notes/ correspondence.
Fresh Receipt (FR) - Any subsequent receipt on a case which brings in
additional information.
Messenger Book A record of particulars of despatch of non-postal
communications and their receipt by the addressees.
Minute a note recorded by the President, the Vice-President, the Prime
Minister or a Minister. Note The remarks recorded on a case to facilitate its
examination and decision.
Paper Under Consideration (PUC) A receipt pertaining to a case, the
consideration of which is thesubject matter of the case.
Maintenance of Dak
a) Receipt of Dak- During office hrs., the entire dak will be received either in
CR or respective Departments. However, dak addressed by name will be
received by the respective personal staff. In case, an officer is on leave or
on training/tour or having retired or left the office after completion of his
tenure, the incumbent or the personal staff concerned or the link officer or
the
officer just below the officer concerned, dealing with the subject wil
receive the immediate/important references, except confidential letters
for which link officer arrangement will be utilized. In case none of the
above mentioned officers are in position, the CR will receive such letters.
Outside the office hours, dak will be received by the addressee himselr, l|
 otherwise available. E-mails received in the Department will be downloaded
to the officer
centrally by the Department and forward the same
concerned.

b) Acknowledgement of Dak t h e receipt of dak, in person, will be

in ink with date
acknowledged by the recipient signing his name in full and
and designation. In e-office acknowledgement will be self generated.
c) Registration of Dak All dak should be registered with details containing
date-wise serial no.
d) Distribution of Dak- The receipts may be forwarded to the officer/section
concerned. In case of ambiguity, the correspondence may be forwarded as

per theinstructions of the appropriate authority.

IV File Maintenance
a) Standard Process Sheet For dealing with cases of repetitive nature e.g.
leave sanction, PF Advances, HBA etc., standard process sheets may be
devised by the department. No notes need be recorded in such cases.
b) Level of disposal & Channel of submission Ideally, The number of levels|
through which a file passes for a decision shall not exceed four. However,
there should be detailed guidelines regarding levels of decision making.
Wherever level jumping is done in respect of any category of cases, each
such case on its return, will pass through all the levels jumped over, who in
suitable cases could resubmit the cases for reconsideration. In case of
urgent matters, the decisions may be conveyed directly to the officer
concerned for implementation, who after doing the same, shal bring it to
the notice of the levels of officers, that have been jumped in the hierarchy.
c) Guidelines for Noting All notes shall be concise and to the point.
Additional material, if any, may be placed in the appendix. Black or Blue
ink shall be used by all categories of staff and officers. In case of hand
written noting, only black or blue ink shall be used. The dealing hand shall
append full signature, name and date on the left below the note. An officer
shall append full signature on the right hand side of the note with name,
designation and date. In an electronic environment digital signature will be
appended at each level. All notes on policy matters should be self
contained with specific views.
d) Modification of notes & orders senior officers should not require any
modification in, or replacement of, the notes recorded by their juniors once
they have been submitted to them. Instead, the higher officers should
record their own notes giving their views on the subject, where necessary
correcting or modifying the facts given in earlier notes. Pasting over a note
or a portion of it to conceal, shall not be done
e) Noting on files received from other Departments - If the reference seeks the
opinion, ruling or concurrence of the receiving Department and requires
detailed examination, such examination may be done separately through
routine notes on a separate file (which wil be created by the receiving
Department). Only the final result will be recorded on the file by the officer
concerned
f)Oral discussion All points emerging from discussions (including telephonic
discussions) between two or more officers of the same Department or from
discussions between officers of different Departments, and the conclusions
reached shall be recorded precisely on the relevant file at the earliest, by
the officer authorizing action.
8) Oral instructions by higher officers Where an officer is giving direction
(including telephonic direction) for taking action in any case in respect of |
 matters on which the officer or subordinate has powers to decide, the
subordinate shall ordinarily do so in writing. If, however, the circumstances
of the case are such that there is no time for giving the instructions in
writing, they should follow it up by a written confirmation at the earliest.
h) Confirmation of oral instructions If an officer seeks confirmation of oral
nstructions given by his superior, the latter should confirm it in writing
whenever such confirmation is sought.
i) Filing of papers Papers required to be filed will be punched neatly on the
left hand top corner and tagged onto the appropriate part of the file viz.
notes, correspondence, appendix to notes and appendix to correspondence,
in chronological order, from right to left. Both notes portion and
correspondence portion" will be placed in a single file cover.
Arrangement of papers in a case. Reference to previous communications
should invariably indicate in the fresh receipt, if there is a mention about
it. When the 'notes" plus the 'correspondence" portion of the file become
bulky (say exceeds 150-200 pages), it will be marked Volume I". Further
papers on the subject will be added to the new volume of the same file,
which will be marked Volume Il'", and so on. On top of the first page of the
note portion in each volume of the
file, file number, name of thee
Department, name of branch/section subject of the file and classification
of file will be mentioned. A similar
procedure will be followed on file cover
also.
k) Referencing Every page in each part of the file (viz. Notes,
Correspondence, appendix to notes and appendix to correspondence) will be |
consecutively numbered in separate series on the top right hand corner.
The drafts of letters issued
having crucial policy, financial and vigilance
implications, where the drafts have been changed by Senior
process of movement of files upwards, barring Officers in thee
should also form a part of the grammatical corrections
correspondence
numbered ad seriatim. The document under considerationportion, which shall be
on a file
flagged PUC and the latest fresh receipt noted upon, as FR. If there shall
is
be
more
than one FR they shall be flagged
separately as FR-I,
facilitate the identification of reference to documents FR-IIl and so on. To

files after the removal of linked contained in other

will be
file(s), the number of the file referred
to
quoted invariably in the note.
) Linking of files If the issues raised in two or more
connected, the relevant files shall be linked. After current files are inter
the linked files be de-linked after completion of action,
taking relevant extracts.
m) Use of urgency grading The urgency grading advised are
Priority and Top Priority. The label Immediate will be used Immediate,
requiring prompt attention. Amongst the rest, the only in cases
for cases which merit Priority label will be used
disposal in precedence to others of
TopPriority will be applied inextremely urgent cases. ordinary nature.
Forms and Procedure of Communication -
a) Forms of communication, viz. letter
Sir/Madam" A
letter begins with
the salutation
as may be appropriate. Demi-official
letter is written in the first ,
letter demi-official
person in a personal and
memorandum It is written in the third friendly tone, office
and
person bears salutation
supersession except the name and
designation of the officer
no or

inter-departmental note Generally employed signing it,

for obtaining the advice,
views, concurrence or comments of other
seeking clarification of the existing rules, Departments on a proposal or in
instructions etc., office order
 Normaly used for issuing instructions meant for internal administration,
e.g., grant of regular leave, distribution of work among officers and
sections, appointments and transfers etc., order Generally used for issuing
certain types of financial sanctions and for communicating government
orders in disciplinary cases, etc., to the officials concerned, notification
Mostly used in notifying promulgation of statutory rules and orders,
appointments and promotions of gazetted officers etc. through publications
in the Gazette of lndia., resolution s form of communication is used for
making public announcement of decisions of government in important
matters of policy in e.g. the policy of industrial licensing, appointment of
committees or commissions of enquiry., press note- This form is used when
it is proposed to give wide publicity to a decision of government.,
endorsement This form is used when a receipt has to be returned in
onginal to the sender, or the receipt in original or its copy 1s sent to
another Department or office, for information or action. & minute A
record of discussions is prepared immediately after the meeting and
circulated to the other Departments concerned, giving date/time/venue of
the meeting held, who chaired the meeting and list of participants, setting|
Out the conclusions reached and indicating the Ministry(s)/Department(s)

b)
responsible for taking further action on each conclusion.
Single file system (SFS) - This shall apply to matters which have to b e

referred by the Non-Administrative office to the Department for seeking a

sanction/order, i.e. a decision not within its own delegated powers.
c) References to Constitutional/Statutory Authorities References to
constitutional and statutory authorities such as Election Commission of
India/ Union Public Service Commission etc. shall normally be made from
the Ministry in the letter form addressed to Principal Secretary/Secretary of
the Commission.
d) Correspondence with State Governments- Communications on the subjects
which clearly relate to the business of a particular Department shall
normally be addressed to the Secretary of that Department. Other
communications including those of special nature or importance warranting
attention at higher levels may be addressed to the Chief Secretary. Demi
official letters may also be sent to officers of State Governments
e) Correspondence with Members of Parliament and VIPs Communications
received from Members of Parliament and VIPs should be attended
to
promptly.
f) Target date for repliesIn all important matters in which State
Governments, Departments of the Central Government, or other offices,
public bodies or individuals are consulted, time limit for replies
ordinarily be specified. On expiry of the specified date, orders of may
the
appropriate authority may be obtained on whether the offices, whose
replies have not been received, may be allowed an extension of time or
whether the matter may be processed on the basis of the
information
available, without waiting for their replies.
VIDrafting& Communication
a) Procedure for drafting Draft is not required to be prepared in
straight
forward cases or those for which standard forms of communication exist.
A draft shall be clear and concise. The number
and date of the last
communication in the series, and if this is not from the addressee, his
last communication on the subject, shall always be referred to. Where it
is necessary to refer to more than one communication or a series of
 Communications, this shall be done on the margin of the draft. When
two or more communications are to issue from the same file on the
inserted before the
same date, separate serial number may be
a
numeral identifying the year to avoid confusion
in reference, e.g., A-
designation,
.11011/5(1)/2001-Est., A-11011/5(11)/2001-Est. The name,
applicable) of the
telephone number, fax number and e-mail (whereverindicated in the
officer signing the communication shall be
Communication. A draft should be typed in double space, in half margin
words 'Draft for
and on both sides of the paper. A flag bearing the
one draft is
Approval should be attached to the draft. When more than
Ill and so on.
submitted at the same time, they should be numbered I, Il,
The following general principles may be followed by all concerned:
should be
(1)No more words that are necessary to express one's meaning
and to tax
used. Failure to do so is likely to obscure the correct meaning
the reader.
and round about phrases should not
(i) Superfluous adjectives, adverbs,
be used.
(ii) Familiar words should be preferred to the farfetched as the former
are more likely to be readily understood.
to those that are
iv) Words with a precise meaning should be preferred
vague. This will serve to convey one's thoughts more clearly.
(v) Concrete words should be preferred to abstract words for they are
more likely to have precise meaning.
b) Addressing communications to officers by name Normally no
communication, other than that of a classified nature or a demi-official
letter, shall be addressed or marked to an officer by name, unless it is
intended that the matter raised therein shall receive his personal
attention either because of its special nature, urgency or importance, or
because some ground has already been covered by personal discussions
with him and he would be in a better position to deal with it.
VII File Numbering system
a) File Numbering System Normally, no files should be opened for dealing
with receipts of routine nature. The following two file numbering
systems may be used:
(i) Functional file numbering system -

() Subject classification based file numbering system-

(ii) Part File -

(iv) Unique e-file number:

b) Transfer, reconstruction and numbering of files Whenever work is
transferred from one department/section to another, the former
shall
transfer all the related records including file both current and
closed to
the latter. In case of transfer of files from
list will be
one Department to the other
a prepared and approval of the Head of the Department
taken. A paper based file will be reconstructed if it is
copies of the various misplaced. The
correspondences will be obtained
corresponding department and papers will be arranged in from the
orders and a new duplicate file prepared. chronological
prepared based on the correspondences. A self-contained note will be
c) Movement of files Movement of files shall
be entered in the file
movement register
in the format to be decided
concerned through departmental instructions. by the Department
This may also be done
through the electronic based File Tracking System.
VII Records Management
a) Activities involved in records management - Records management covers
the activities concerning mainly recording, retention, retrieval and
disposal by transferring records to Record Room. Each Department is
expected to issue Departmental instructions to regulate and review of
records
b) Record Retention Schedule - To ensure that files etc. are neither
prematurely destroyed, nor kept for periods longer than necessary,
there should be a Record Retention Schedule (RRS). Presently, RRS
prescribed by the DoP&T is being followed uniformly in Railways.
IX Checks on Delays
a) Timely Disposal of receipts and monitoring of Parliamentary Assurances,
Parliament Questions, Applications under RTI Act, MP/VIP References,
CAT/Court Cases, etc. Time Limits will be fixed for disposal of as many
types of cases as possible handled in the Department through
departmental instructions. As a general rule, no official shall keep a
case pending for more than 7 working days unless higher limits have
been prescribed for specific types of cases through departmental
instructions. In case of a case remaining with an official for more than
the stipulated time limit, an explanation for keeping it pending shall be
recorded on the note portion by him. The system of exception reporting
will be introduced to monitor the disposal of receipts. For timely
disposal and monitoring of Parliament Assurances, Parliament Questions,
Applications under RTI Act, MP/VIP References, Judicial/quasi-judicial,
etc. each department shall maintain separate records of such cases. E
Governance methods, suiting to the requirements, should also be
adopted for monitoring andtracking of government work.
*****