4/13/24, 1:20 PM CHAPTER XXtt LOST PROPERTY AND UNCLAIMED CONSIGN

CHAPTER XXII

LOST PROPERTY AND UNCLAIMED CONSIGNMENTS

2201. Examination of empty carriages at terminal stations.—All empty carriages of the

incoming trains should be carefully checked at terminal stations by a responsible member of the
station staff along with a representative of the Railway Protection Force, to see if any property
has been left behind by the passengers. Any article found shall be deposited with the Station
Master.

2202. Lost, unclaimed and unbooked articles found in carriages or at stations or on the
line.—If articles of lost or unclaimed property, other than booked consignments, are deposited by
any person, the Station Master should take over and grant receipts for such articles, an inventory
being taken when necessary without undue delay, and attested by the person making over the
property.

2203. Check and registration of lost properly at stations.—(a) All lost or unbooked articles
found in railway vehicles or in station premises or on the track by or made over to station staff,
should immediately by entered in the lost property register in Form Com| L-18. Each article
should be entered separately with full particulars of its description, masks, actual weight,
approximate value (if this can be ascertained), etc. In the case of boxes, bags, etc., an inventory
of the contents should be taken in triplicate, in the presence of an official of the Railway
Protection Force or Government Railway Police and in case there are no such officials, in the
presence of two members of the station staff. After the inventory has been attested by all the
officials witnessing its preparation, one copy should be pasted in the lost property register, one
copy kept inside the box, bag or any other container containing the articles, and one copy should
be made over to the official of the Police or Railway Protection Force, witnessing the preparation
of the inventory for his record. The articles should then properly repacked to the original
conditioned sealed with the station seal to avoid damage and pilferage.

(b) Packages hermetically sealed or known to contain articles, such as photographic material etc.
which are liable to deteriorate when exposed to atmosphere, should not be opened.

(c) Each article or package deposited with the Station Master as lost property should be labeled
with the serial number of its entry in the lost property register.

2204. Restoration of lost property to owners.—All lost property should, if claimed and
identified to the satisfaction of the Station Master, be delivered to the owner on obtaining an
application from him. Full address of the claimant must be noted in the lost property register and
his signature obtained therein in token of the receipt of the articles. The Station Master himself
also should make all possible efforts to restore lost property to the rightful owners, advantage
being taken of any clues as to ownership found from the contents of the packages, etc.

2205. If the Station Master has any doubt about the ownership of the lost property, delivery
should only be made after obtaining the orders if the Divisional Commercial Superintendent, to
whom the matter should be referred to with full details.

2206. In cases where packages are found at the station, having been left behind by the rail user
and are returned to the passenger without being sent to the Lost Property Office, no charge need
be recovered and package should be gracefully returned to the passenger without any
Commercial Charge.

2207. Disposal of lost property remaining undelivered.—(a) Except as provided in paras

2208 to 2213, all lost property articles, if not claimed or otherwise disposed of within 7 days of
their deposit in the case of train terminal stations and within 48 hours of their deposit in the case
of other stations, should be transferred to the lost property office under a free invoice waybill.
Full particulars including the description and contents of articles, how marked, when, where and
by whom found, actual weight, approximate value of the articles transferred to the lost property
office should be recorded in a statement, which should be prepared in quadruplicate, by carbon
process. Two copies of the statement together with the connected railway receipt should be sent

https://indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/codesmanual/CommManual-II/commercialmanualIIch22_data.htm#:~:text=—(a) Except as provide… 1/11

4/13/24, 1:20 PM CHAPTER XXtt LOST PROPERTY AND UNCLAIMED CONSIGN
(b) All the way-bills issued to the lost property office will be accounted for in a similar register,
which will be posted in duplicate, by carbon process. At the end of the month one copy of the
register will be submitted to the Traffic Accounts Office in lieu of inward abstracts and the other
copy retained as a station record.

2232. Disposal of unclaimed goods in the lost property office.—(a) All endeavours should
be made to hand over the packages remaining unclaimed in the lost property office to railway
departments on joint valuation by the representatives of the lost property office and the
department concerned. It should be ensured that the value of the goods is correctly assessed at
such joint valuations. In case the goods are not acceptable to railway departments, arrangements
may be made to dispose of the same by public auction.

(b) Excisable, controlled of prohibited articles, if received in the lost property office, should be
made over to the authorities concerned as per extant orders, after obtaining their
acknowledgement. The details of such consignments made over to the authorities concerned
should immediately be advised to the Chief Commercial Superintendent and the Traffic Accounts
Office for arranging recovery of the amount due to the railway.

2233. Periodical sale of articles in the lost property office.—(a) The sale of lost, or
unclaimed articles by public auction will be held in the lost property office at frequent intervals,
on the dates to be notified by Chief Commercial Superintendent by advertisement and by public
notice.

(b) Such sales will be held of all unclaimed or lost property which has remained in the possession
of the railway for three months or such other shorter period as notified by the railway
administration concerned, except in the case of unclaimed food grains which will be auctioned
when they have remained in the possess on of the railway for over two months.

(c) At least 7 days notice of each auction will be given by an advertisement in a local newspaper.
If there is no local newspaper, the intended auction should be advertised (i) by pasting of notices
at or near the goods shed, where there is no separate goods shed, on the station platform and in
second class waiting hall; and (ii) by a notice published in any newspaper printed in the state and
circulating in the district in which the station at which the sale is to take place is situated.

(d) The exact date, time and place of the proposed auction, the nature of goods intended to be
sold, and other particulars necessary to enable the public to identify the commodities intended to
be put up for auction, should be indicated in the advertisement or in the public notice. Where a
doubt exists as to the exact nature of a consignment lying in the lost property office, the
assistance of the Controller of Stores or other technical officers may be obtained so that the
articles could be carefully specified in the advertisement/public notice.

2234. On the date of auction sale, the contents of each consignment should be separated and
auctioned in separate lots unless the official supervising the auction considers that collection of
items of one and the same nature in one lot is likely to fetch better price.

2235. Auction sales.—The following instructions should be observed in the conduct of sales:—

(1) Conditions of the auction sale should be announced before starting the auction.

(2) It should be a condition of all auction sales that the railway reserves the right to withdraw
any article from sale for which an acceptable offer is not made.

(3) No article of value should be sold without a predetermined reserve price being fixed for.

(4) It should be seen that no pool exists among the bidders to keep the prices at their minimum.
in case a pool is found to exist, suitable action should be taken to break the pool.

(5) Ordinarily the highest bidder on the fall of the hammer must be considered as the purchaser,
unless the bid is lower than any reserve price that has been fixed or the sale is subject to the
approval of a higher authority.

https://indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/codesmanual/CommManual-II/commercialmanualIIch22_data.htm#:~:text=—(a) Except as provide… 6/11

4/13/24, 1:20 PM CHAPTER XXtt LOST PROPERTY AND UNCLAIMED CONSIGN
(6) No railway servant is permitted, either in person or through an agent, in his own name or in
that of another, jointly or singly to purchase or bid for any property exposed for sale at the lost
property office.

(7) Unless otherwise specially arranged, sale- proceeds must be collected in cash on the spot and
remitted to the Chief Cashier on the same day the auction is held.

(8) In disposing of goods, care should be taken to observe scrupulously any ban or restriction
imposed by the local authorities of the State/Central Government on the sale of the commodity
as well as any regulations regarding control prices, etc.

(9) The Superintendent of the lost property office and the Inspector of Station Accounts or any
other authorized official of the Accounts Department must be present at the auction to ensure
that the auction is properly conducted and sale proceeds are properly recorded.

2236. Removed of auctioned articles.—Auctioned articles should be removed from the lost
property office within the period allowed for removal. If not removed within the prescribed time,
wharfage charges due should be collected and shown in the sale register, Form Com./S-2.

2237. Sale register.—Full particulars of the articles sold together with the name of the buyers,
amount of sale, amount recovered and balance of the sale amount due, if any, should be posted
in the sale register; in Form Com./ S-2. This register should be posted in ink immediately after
each sale is finalized, in respect of each article put to auction. At the end of each day's auction,
the total amount collected during the day should be expressed both in words and figures over the
signature of all the officials supervising the auction in token of the correctness of the particulars
entered therein. The particulars of the cash remittance note under which the total amount
collected during the day, is remitted to the cash office should also be recorded in the sale
register.

2238. Statement of consignments sold.—The lost property office will prepare an auction sale
statement in Form Com. /A-I Rev. in respect of all lost unclaimed articles and unclaimed booked
parcels or goods sold by public auction. If the amount of the sale proceeds exceeds the
outstanding freight, demurrage, wharfage, storage and postage charges, the difference should be
accounted for on the debit side of the balance sheet. If, however, it falls short of the freight,
demurrage, wharfage, storage and postage charges, the difference should be taken credit for in
the balance sheet. The statements should be prepared in duplicate, by carbon process,
separately for coaching and goods traffic, one copy being submitted to the Traffic Accounts Office
along with the balance sheet and the other retained as record at the lost property office.

2239. Auction of consignments at stations.—When it is decided by the Chief Commercial

Superintendent to sell at stations the undelivered or unclaimed consignments including those of
coal and minerals, which owing to their nature cannot conveniently be transferred to the lost
property office, the instructions contained in paras 2233 to 2235 above should be borne in mind.
A notice of sale of such consignments must be published in the newspaper generally in circulation
in the area or by posting notices at or near the parcels/goods shed or other station premises. For
consignments of perishable nature, it will be sufficient to paste notice of the sale at or near the
parcels/goods shed or other station premises but in the case of large consignments, the sale
should also be advertised in the market, if one is within easy reach of the station.

2240. Lost and unclaimed articles and unclaimed booked consignments claimed and
delivered to owners in the lost property office.—When consignments transferred to the lost
property office are claimed by owners and delivery is effected in the lost property office, the
following charges should be recovered from the owners:—

(i) original freight charges, if any;

(ii) wharfage and demurrage charges as also postage charges accrued at the rebooking, station
prior to the transfer of the consignment to the lost property office;

(iii) freight charges from the rebooking station to the lost property office; and

https://indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/codesmanual/CommManual-II/commercialmanualIIch22_data.htm#:~:text=—(a) Except as provide… 7/11

4/13/24, 1:20 PM CHAPTER XXtt LOST PROPERTY AND UNCLAIMED CONSIGN
(iv) storage charges accrued and postage charges, if any, incurred at the lost property office.

2241. The procedure to be followed by the lost property office while delivering the consignments
to the rightful Downer will be the same as laid down for stations. Claimant should produce a
letter of authority from the Chief Commercial Superintendent as also the original railway receipt,
which should be collected and filed at the lost property office.

2242. Particulars of all lost unclaimed articles and unclaimed booked consignments delivered in
the lost property office should be entered by that office in a statement of lost unclaimed articles
and unclaimed booked consignments delivered at the lost property office in the proforma
appearing at Appendix XXII/ B. These statements should be prepared in duplicate, by carbon
process, separately for coaching and goods traffic, one copy of each being submitted to the
Traffic Accounts Office along with the balance sheet and the other retained as record at the lost
property office. The charges mentioned in para 2240 (iii) and (iv) should be accounted for on the
debit side of the balance sheet.

2243. Consignments claimed by owners and re-booked from lost property office to
outstations.—Lost unclaimed articles and unclaimed booked consignments claimed by owners
at outstations may, if desired by them, be rebooked under to pay invoices or waybills.

The following charges should be shown as 'paid-on' charges on the rebooking invoice or way-bill:
—

(i) original freight charge, if any ;

(ii) wharfage, demurrage and postage charges, if any, incurred at the rebooking station prior to
the transfer of the consignment to the lost property office;

(iii) freight charges from the rebooking station to the lost property office; and

(iv) storage charges accrued and packing and postage charges, if any, incurred at the lost
property office.

2244. Procedure to be followed in rebooking consignments from the lost property office is the
same as laid own for stations.

2245- Particulars of all consignments rebooked from the lost property office should be entered in
a statement of consignments rebooked in the pro forma appearing at Appendix XXII/C. This
statement should be prepared in duplicate, by carbon process, separately for coaching and goods
traffic, one copy of each being submitted to the Traffic Accounts Office along with the balance
sheet and the other retained at the lost property office.

2246. The charges mentioned in items (iii) and (iv) of para 2243 should be accounted for by the
lost property office on the debit side of the balance sheet. The outstanding thus caused as also
on account of items (i) and (ii) of para 2243 should be cleared by taking special credit in the
balance sheet under head 'Paid on'. Copies of way-bills/invoice3 should invariably be sent to the
Traffic Accounts Office duly attached to the balance sheet in support of the credit entry.

2247. Remittance of cash.—The procedure for the remittance of cash realized at the lost
property office will be the same us bid down for stations.

2248. Lost property office balance sheet.—The lost property office balance sheet should be
prepared separately for coaching and goods traffic and submitted to the Traffic Accounts Office
along with the relevant statements and other documents on the dates notified by the railway
administration.

2249. The principle underlying the preparation of the lost property office balance sheet is the
same as for the balance sheet of an ordinary station, i.e., the lost property office is debitable for
all sums for which it has to account for and creditable with all sums it pays to the cash office or
for which it submits duly attested vouchers.

https://indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/codesmanual/CommManual-II/commercialmanualIIch22_data.htm#:~:text=—(a) Except as provide… 8/11