Conduct & Disciplinary Rules – 45

DEPARTMENTAL ENQUIRIES AND INVESTIGATIONS

1. PROCEDURE OF INVESTIGATIONS INTO LOSS AND FRAUD CASES

(i) As soon as a report of a case of alleged misappropriation/ fraud comes to notice, preliminary enquiries should be conducted by S.D.I/A.S.P.Os/Divisional Supdt immediately. The first step is to prevent further advent of misappropriation/fraud to secure the relevant records/documents from manipulation or destruction. The moment a prima-facie crime is established and the amount involved is more than Rs. 50000 the case should be reported to police preserving all relevant records at all ends. 

(ii) If the prime offender is pinpointed and his fault or misconduct is established, he should be removed from the scene either by transferring him or placing him under suspension or putting him off from duty in case of GDS immediately.

(iii) Certain levels have been prescribed for conducting the detailed enquiries into loss and fraud cases according to the monetary involvement. As soon as the loss exceeds the limit up to which the Divisional Supdt or his subordinate officers are empowered to enquire into the case, they should send a report by telegram followed by a preliminary report to the next higher authority to arrange for the detailed enquiry by the authority of appropriate level. The detailed enquiry into every such case should be completed within 3 months.

(iv) The modus operandi should be done into deeply and in case any lacuna in rules or procedures is detected, it should be prominently brought out in the report. If it can be rectified at the Divisional level, orders should be issued immediately. Else it should be perused with higher authorities.

(v) The next important step is the completion of verification of past work of primary offender to arrive at a definite conclusion of the magnitude of the fraud. This should also be completed within three months. If the office involved is an E.D.B.O/E.D.S.O care should be taken to give wide publicity of the removal of the primary offender so that the member of public may not be further deceived. In case of frauds in S.B/N.S.C/M.O transactions, it is. always necessary to replace the set of stamps of the office immediately to prevent misuse of the existing set of stamps / seals.

(vi) The details of the property in the name of the primary offender should be collected and the Revenue authorities should be approached to prevent their sale / disposal. Action under the Public Accountants Default Act should also be considered in consultation with Govt. Advocate.

(vii) Simultaneously with the enquiries made from the defrauded persons, the claim papers and other evidence should be collected to eliminate the delays in the settlement of claims which should at all stages be given top priority.

(viii) There is no bar to initiate departmental disciplinary action against the principal and subsidiary offenders immediately after the enquiries are over and even if the case is under police investigation or under trial in the Court. However, if a stay is ordered by a competent court the proceedings should be deferred.

(ix) Photostat copies of all relevant documents should be kept before handing over the originals to the police or court and the originals should be shown to the principal / subsidiary offenders and their signatures should be obtained on the photostat copies in token of having examined the originals. This will cut delays, hindrance in conducting the disciplinary cases.

(Extract from Page-15 of Compendium on Postal complaint issued by the Department of Posts 1990).

2. INVESTIGATION OF LOSS AND FRAUD CASES,

S.No	Level of Investing officer	Revised Monetary limit (Rs.)
1	Inspector Posts/ ASPOs	Upto Rs.1 Lakh
2	Divisional heads/ Sr PM/ Chief PM/ Dy Director of Mumbai/Kolkata GPO	> Rs.1 Lakh upto Rs.2 Lakhs
3	Asst Director/ APMG of Circle/Regional office	>Rs.2 Lakhs upto Rs.5 Lakhs
4	Director( including Directors in GPOs or any other Director level officer)/PMG/CPMG	>Rs.5 Lakhs

 (D.G. Post No. 8-01/2019-Inv. dt. 24-10-2019).

1.All loss and fraud cases should be dealt with by the respective Divl. Supdt. Inquiry/ Investigation should also be done in all cases by the Division. The limit as shown above is fixed for inquiry/investigation by those officers in addition to enquiry conducting by the Division.

2. The work of Circle office has been decentralised after the creation of the Post of Regional PMGs. All the loss and fraud cases exceeding Rs. 200000/- should be registered at the Regional Office. All reports relating to loss and fraud cases are required to be submitted to Regional office instead of C.O. where the regional PMGs are functioning. The circle-level enquiry report conducted by D.P.S. is also required to be submitted to the Directorate directly from the office of the Regional PMGs.