REGISTER J

Serial No.

Date of receipt by Nazir

Nature of civil or criminal cases in which received

Detail of the property received

For what purpose received

How each article of property has been disposed of and date

By whose order disposed of

Signature of receiver of property

Remarks

CHAPTER 11

SUGGESTIONS FOR ECONOMY

11.1 General

It is impossible to secure economy in contingent expenditure unless the progress of expenditure is watched and this cannot be done unless the register are kept carefully and in some detail. It is in the first place necessary to divide the allotment between the various sub-heads so that progress of expenditure under each sub-head may be watched. For this purpose it is necessary to have progressive totals of expenditure under each sub-head and to distribute the totals of work bills under the various sub-heads. Also entries in the register must be in sufficient details to enable the nature of the expenditure to be identified.

11.2 The contingent expenditure should be, and is normally, under the charge of an officer. He should not be the Treasury Officer whose duty it is to scrutinise the contingent expenditure from the accounts point of view, and the Deputy Commissioner should not fail to interest himself in the matter. He should periodically see the progress of expenditure and in particular he should not miss seeing the registers in the first week of October and January.

11.3 Hot and cold weather charges. (a) Hot weather charges - A great deal of unnecessary expenditure is caused by clerks omitting to switch off the lights and fans when not in use. There should be an officer, whether appointed for the week or longer periods whose duty it would be to see that the regulations are observed. The punishment of depriving a room, where power is wasted, of the use of fans for a short period might be salutary. The practice of keeping fans going longer than it is necessary by the clerks who prefer staying in office to returning to their houses should be guarded against. The same should apply to room coolers or any other services to ward off heat. There are special orders of Government about khas khas tatties which should be referred to.

(b) Cold weather charges - Before the cold weather the Deputy Commissioner should consider the amount of fuel required and invite tenders for it. A stock register should be maintained and a responsible official should be in charge of the distribution. It should be borne in mind that charcoal is an expensive way of heating the rooms and in particularly likely to be stolen : also that mixed fires of wood and coal are particularly expensive. Coal and coke are probably the cheapest ways of heating the rooms. The Government instructions for its distribution to the staff should be strictly complied with.

11.4 Purchase and repair of furniture

Some check should be placed on this by maintaining property the prescribed register for furniture : also a great deal of expenditure on repairs and replacement will be saved if early attention is paid to the need of petty repairs. The officer should make a point on his inspection of the rooms of seeing whether any petty repairs are required. This incidentally will prevent court rooms presenting the slovenly appearance which is so often a discredit to the administration. Spilling of ink by ahlmads on carpets should be prevented by a warning that persistent damage of this kind will result in the offenders being required to replace the damaged articles. Similarly spilling of ink by officials on walls, tables or any other furniture should be prevented. When new articles are required the Deputy Commissioner should themselves take interest in their quality and price.

11.5 Tour charges. These consist of members of petty details which are very difficult to check in themselves and therefore required special attention of the Deputy Commissioner, who should from time to time check the amounts of the bills sent in by officers with the number of days on tour. The Travelling Allowance Rules contained in C.S.R. Volume IIII should be observed strictly for undertaking travel and charging travelling allowance for tours.

11.6 Carriage of stationery. Care should be taken that the Stationery is despatched by the Controller Printing and Stationery, Punjab by goods and not by passenger train or by goods carrier.

11.7 Administration of Justice

The schedule rates of diet money and travelling allowance should be those laid down by the High Court and not others, and the work of magistrates in assigning witnesses to various classes should be from time to time supervised. It should be seen whether the magistrate has been causing expense to Government as well as trouble to the public by detaining witnesses for more than one day.

11.8 Tents.

Care should be exercised in condemning or in replacing after condemnation tents out of which use may still be got.

11.9 Telephones

The Deputy Commissioner should ensure that the telephones are not misused and serve the purpose well for which these have been installed. Where telephones exist, these would be provided at the residence of the Deputy Commissioner as well as in his office although the extension would be provided in the Superintendent's room in the office. Apart from this the telephone facilities would be provided to other important officers viz Additional Deputy Commissioner, General Assistant, District Officers Removal of Grievances etc.

11.10. Illegitimate charges. Generally speaking, care should be taken that allowances and other illegitimate charges are not concealed under contingencies. Examples of such are allowances to peons for dusting rooms and purchase of uniform additional to that laid down in the rules.

11.11 Stationery

Great care should be exercised in the direction of economy. The use of economy slips on envelopes should be rigorously enforced. Letters are typed on foolscap sheets when half size will suffice and occasionally duplicates are sent when there is clearly no question of a reference to Government being required. The Rules laid down for the purchase of stationery in the Stationery Manual should be studied carefully and scrupulously followed.

11.12 Menials paid from contingencies

Should be limited to the absolute minimum after careful consideration. Where part-time service is sufficient, whole-time man should not be employed. Any tendency to grant allowances should be discouraged.

11.13 Service Stamps

The following rules have been framed by the Finance Department for the audit and better control of expenditure on service postage labels.

RULES FOR THE AUDIT AND BETTER CONTROL OF EXPENDITURE ON SERVICE POSTAGE LABELS

PART-1 MAINTENANCE OF ACCOUNTS

11.14 (1) Every controlling of disbursing officer shall maintain an account of service stamps purchased from the treasury and of all issues made therefrom to officials entrusted with the posting and despatch of officials communications. The account shall be kept in the following form and the responsibility for its proper maintenance and the custody of stamps shall be entrusted to an official specially detailed for the purpose by the controlling or disbursing officer.

STAMP ACCOUNT OF CUSTODIAN OFFICER OF THE ______________________

Date of receipt of stamp from treasury

Value of Stamps Received

Value of Stamps issued and to whom issued

Receipt for receiving official

Total in hand on quarter ending

Total issues during quarter ending

(2) All issues of stamps made by the official in whose custody they remain shall be shown as received in the despatch register by the despatcher or other official who is responsible for the despatch and posting of official communications.

(3) No issue of stamps shall be made under rule 2 to any official except on a written requisition and after the official responsible for the custody of stamps has satisfied himself by reference to the despatch register that the last supply requires to be supplemented. The officials responsible for the issue of stamps shall take a receipt for all issues made by him in column 4 of the form on account prescribed in rule 1, or by a separate receipt which should be pasted in his stamp account register.

(4) Ordinarily, officials entrusted with the despatch of official letters will be entitled to draw stamps from the official custodian but the head of an office may authorise any other official to draw stamps for official use and require him to render an account to the official issuing them.

(5) The value of stamps with a despatcher shall be shown in the despatch register at the commencement of each day and the balance carried forward from day to day after deducting the total value of stamps used as shown against each cover or telegram despatched in the course of a single day.

(6) No custodian of stamps or despatcher may loan stamps for the use of another office.

PART II - DOMESTIC AUDIT

11.15 (1) The stamps account shall be audited at the end of every quarter in each financial year by a gazetted officer or other responsible official nominated by the controlling or disbursing officer.

(2) Such audit shall be carried out in the following order:-

(a) Trace all purchases of stamps in the contingent register of the office for the period under audit.

(b) See that all such purchases have been brought to account in the register prescribed by rule 1 and that the balance with the custodian is correct by actual account.

(c ) See that issues of stamps made by the custodian to the despatcher or other authorised official have been issued under proper receipt.

(d) See that such issues have been brought to account in the despatch register.

(e) Then see that all issues entered in the despatch register have been duly consumed from time to time and that the balance of stamps in hand with the despatcher is correct.

(f) Further make a 10 per cent check of daily despatches from the despatch register to see that instructions issued in this behalf are being complied with and that the rules in part IV are not being disregarded by subordinates.

(g) If the accounts of the custodian and despatcher are correct and no irregularity has been committed by the despatcher or other official,- vide clause (f) above,- a certificate of correctness should be recorded at the end of the accounts maintained by the custodian and despatcher. Should any irregularity or discrepancy be discovered, the matter should be reported separately to the controlling or disbursing officer.

PART III - WEIGHMENT OF PARCELS AND LETTERS AND USE OF THE REGISTERED POST.

11.16 (1) The despatcher should weigh every parcel and letter and then affix stamps to the required value.

(2) The registered post should be used for the transmission of -

(a) original documents of which copies cannot be obtained;

(b) confidential and secret documents;

(c ) documents which are required under rule or law to be sent by registered post;

(d) such other documents which the head of an office or other gazetted officer may require to be so sent.

PART IV - DESPATCH

11.17 (1) Urgent letters and parcels should be despatched on every working day.

(2) Other letters and parcels, the posting of which is not a matter of urgency, should be despatched on the same day or at the most the next day. When the last working day is followed by two close holidays in that case despatch should take place prior to the day of two close days.

(3) No two or more covers should be addressed to the same officer on the same day.

PART V – TELEGRAMS

11.18 (1) Except as provided for in the following rule every telegram should be authenticated by the head of the office from whom it emanates.

(2) The head of an office may authorise another officer or other responsible official to authenticate telegrams on his behalf when the issue of such telegrams has been approved.

(3) In the absence of the head of an office the next senior officer or official in charge of the office may use the telegram on behalf of his superior officer when a telegraphic communication is necessary.

"Express" telegrams should on no account be sent except in a real emergency.

(4) Care should be taken that telegrams are not issued where ordinary express letters or reminders will suffice and the responsibility for the correct use of telegrams lies entirely on the Superintendent.

PART VI - ADDITIONAL DUTY OF DESPATCHER

11.19 All registered letters, parcels and telegrams shall be entered by the despatcher in red ink in his despatch register.

11.20 Disregard of rules.

Any disregard of rules in this Chapter should be viewed as a waste of public funds and the official responsible should be dealt with accordingly.

CHAPTER 12

STAMPS

12.1 Stamp Rules etc.

The subject has been dealt with in all its aspects in the Punjab Stamp Manual, which should be referred to on all questions relating to the subject. The important rules contained therein are :-

(1) The Punjab Stamp Indent Rules. - These contain instructions for the preparation of Indents for stamps, and should be studied carefully by the treasury and sub-treasury officers, the head treasury clerk and the treasury clerk dealing with the indents.

(2) The Punjab Stamp Despatch and Receipt Rules :- These are important rules laying down instructions for the guidance of the treasury and sub-treasury officers in the matter of despatch and receipt of stamps.

(3) The Punjab Stamp Balances Verification Rules - These rules prescribe a monthly surprise verification, by the treasury and sub-treasury officers, of the stock of stamps in single locks in treasuries and sub-treasuries, respectively.

(4) The Punjab Stamps Rules - These rules contain instructions for regulating the supply and sale of stamps. They are very important, and should be studied carefully by all concerned.

(5) The Punjab Stamp Refund, Renewal and Disposal Rules - These rules lay important responsibility on the office superintendent and the treasury officer. All officials dealing with stamp refunds and renewals should carefully study these rules.

(6) The Punjab Stamp Audit Instructions - Contain instructions for the audit and control of stamp revenue. The Superintendents Grade II and IV, the Readers and Ahlmads of revenue courts and Magistrates as well as the Registration Moharrirs should study and comply with these instructions carefully.

(7) The Punjab Stamp Losses and Defalcation Rules - When stamps are totally destroyed by fire or otherwise or are stolen or lost in transit, the instructions contained in the said Rules shall be observed.

12.2 Stamp Auditors.-

The Stamp Auditors frequently visit districts in connection with the audit and inspection of courts and offices and all difficult questions in connection with 'Stamps' should be referred to them for technical advice when necessity arises. In regard to criminal court cases under the Stamp and Court Fees Acts, it is also open to the Deputy Commissioner , if he requires legal advice, to consult the District Attorney of the district. These matters should be dealt with in the Peshi Branch through the Superintendent.

(Financial Commissioner's letter No. 1132 – St.- dated the 19th July, 1939).

12.3 Duties of Presiding officers etc. regarding court fees on claims

The question of fixing duty and personal responsibility for the levy of proper court-fees on plaints and petitions filed in courts has been considered by Government in consultation with the Honourable Judges of the High Court and sanction has been conveyed to the following principles :-

"The ministerial officer of the court concerned, i.e. the Clerk of Court in the case of District and Sessions Judges and Senior Sub-Judges, and the Reader in case of other Subordinate Judges, should be made responsible for seeing that plaints and petitions are properly stamped in all simple and undisputed cases. For failure to do so he should be personally responsible ; but in cases of doubt regarding the correctness of the court-fee due, it would be his duty to take the orders of the presiding officer. Personal responsibility should be enforced against the ministerial officer in cases which he failed to refer to the presiding officer for orders, and against the presiding officer in other cases. This should, however, be subject to the proviso that personal responsibility should only be enforced against the presiding or ministerial officer, as the case might be where obvious mistakes were made, and not in case in which a genuine doubt was possible regarding correctness of the court-fee due".

The Deputy Commissioner should impress upon the presiding officer of Subordinate Revenue Courts and Magistrates and their Readers, their personal responsibility in this matter, and they should understand that as a natural consequence all Government losses in stamp revenue will be dealt with in future with reference to their personal responsibility.

CHAPTER 13

JUDICIAL CORRESPONDENCE AND RULES REGARDING TRANSMISSION OF REVENUE FILES

13.1 Receipt and Registration.-

In the matter of the receipt and despatch of correspondence pertaining to the Peshi Branch, the Ahlmad should directly receive papers of the said branch under the overall supervision of the Reader to Deputy Commissioner. Where any particular paper would have to be signed for, the signature would be that of the Ahlmad taking it. The Peshi Ahlmad would himself accept the papers dealt in his branch; all other would go to the branches dealing with those cases.

So far as the despatch of judicial correspondence from the office of Deputy Commissioner to the Tehsil is concerned, the Ahlmad should send the papers either by post or through a dak messenger by preparing the challan wherein all the papers would be entered. The dak messenger would get the signature of the official receiving it on the challan.

13.2 to 13.4 Deleted.

13.5 Transmission of files .-The rules regarding the transmission of revenue files from office to office are given below: -

(1) A despatch register should be maintained in each subordinate revenue office showing files and other papers despatched (on requisitions) to the Financial Commissioner's office. The number and year of the case noted in the precept of that office should be entered in the register, and the number in the register should be noted on the reverse of the precept, with the date of despatch of files.

(2) It occasionally happens that in transmitting files all connected files are not submitted. To ensure the despatch of all the necessary files and papers, the Reader of every subordinate revenue office should be required to attach a list (in the annexed form A) of connected files to each original file; this list should be initialled by the Reader. When a case is called for, the Record-keeper will then be able to decide at once what files it is necessary to despatch. He should be held responsible that no record of a decided case is received in his office without the list of connected files being attached, and that, when a case is called for by a superior office, all such files are despatched.

(3) Intimation should be given direct to the Secretary or Clerk of Court when one month of the receipt of files returned from the Financial Commissioners' Office, if, in any file, any papers, stamps or Court-fees are found to be missing, damaged or incomplete. Unless such intimation is given in due time, the office of the Financial Commissioners will not be held responsible.

(4) In transmitting files to the Financial Commissioners' Office, the list of the files in the annexed Form B should be submitted in duplicate. On receipt of the files in that office, an official receipt of the files in that office, an official appointed by the Clerk of Court will fill in columns 10 and 11 and return the duplicate to the office of despatch. When the files are returned by the Financial Commissioners' Office, the receiving office will fill in columns 13 and 14 in the original list and will return it to the Financial Commissioners' Office for record as an acknowledgement.

(5) Files despatched to the Financial Commissioners' Office should be packed in an inner cover of paper tied across with tape and secured in an outer cover of coarse cloth. During the rainy season wax-cloth, should if possible, be used for the outer covering. All parcels should be securely closed and sealed.

FORM A

IN THE COURT OF/OFFICE OF __________ IN THE __________

DISTRICT LIST OF CONNECTED CASES PRODUCED

IN THE CASE __________ PLAINTIFF

_________________DEFENDANT.

Case No…………… of 19 ………

Serial No.

Name of Village

Number of the connected case produced

Name of plaintiff

Name of defendant

Claim

Date of decision

Name of the Officer deciding

Signature of court reader.

FORM B

LIST OF FILES DESPATCHED FROM THE OFFICE OF _______________ TO THE OFFICE OF

____________________ IN THE CASE OF __________ VERSUS _______________

Serial No.

Case No.

Name of Party

Nature of claim

Date of decision

Name of Court or officer who decided the case

Number of sheets in each file with or without chitha

Total value of court- fee lables in the file

Date of despatch and the initials of the despatcher

Date of receipt and the initials of the receiving official

Initials of the officials to whom the file was made over and date of receipt

Dteof return of the file to the despatch office and the initials of the officials returning the file

Date of receipt in the office from which the file had originally been sent and the initials of the receiving officials

Date of return of the list to the office from which the file had been received back

Remarks

13.6 to 13.7 Deleted.

Contents