Govt Issues Separate Business Hours In Post Offices For These Individuals

The Department of Posts under the supervision of the Ministry of Communications has amended Rule 147(16) of POSB CBS Manual and Rule 16 of POSB Manual Volume II. This rule is relating to the fixing of separate business hours for agents and suggested considering the revision of the said rule. The new rules are as follows:

Rule 147 (16) of POSB CBS Manual & Rule 16 of POSB Manual Volume II

According to the circular issued on 5th November 2021, the Department of Posts has set the below facilities to be provided to agents by the post office.

• A separate business hour for acceptance of business from agents during the business hours of the post offices shall be fixed by the authority competent to issue Notice of Hours of Business, according to the local convenience of the post office, in order to ensure that the agents can come and transact their business during these hours.
• It should be ensured that under no circumstances, service to the general public is affected due to the fixing of separate business hours for agents. Further, the Postmasters shall also accept the agents' transactions beyond the hours fixed for agents during the business hours, whenever there is no rush at the counter for transactions.
• The agents should be provided cooperation by postal staff whenever they attend the post office to transact their business during business hours fixed for them. They should be treated with all courtesy and allowed to come inside the post office public hall during their business hours.

The Department of Posts has also issued several guidelines on 5th November 2021 to operate a post office savings account. The rules are related to issuing a new passbook, opening a joint account, cheque book facility, opening a Basic Savings Account, deposit limit in branch post offices, change of guardian in any account, change of joint depositor in a joint account, and more. For more details, please click here.