Presented By:

Ravikant Kumar Sinha

Procedure of Diary & Dispatch, Documentation & Maintenance of Office Records / Files. Procedure of Noting- Drafting
 Receipt/Diary
A register is maintained to keep a record of all received
letters of postal or non-postal of a Department
pertaining to senders. This register is called Diary
Register.

The Diary register serves as an evidence of letters

received in a particular office and exercise a control
over disposal of received letters.
Diary Register
 Diary Register
The Diary Register should be maintained, which has generally following
columns to record the communications
(i) Serial No. The serial number assigned to a receipt in the Section
diary/personal staff of officers.
(ii) Reference No. of document/letter received.
(iii) Date of document/letter received.
(iv) From whom document/letter received.
(v) Subject of document/letter received.
(vi) Name of Dealing Hand of the Section to whom the communication is
marked for disposal.
(vii) File No. in which document/letter is dealt with.
(viii) Remarks - In this column disposal of document received may be
displayed-whether disposed of or no action is taken thereon.
Papers which need not be entered in Diary
Register:

Receipt which are diarized in a computer,

Unsigned communications
Casual leave applications,
Unstamped or insufficiently stamped petitions
Papers wrongly addressed, applications which are not
in the prescribed form, gazettes, printed pamphlets
and publications
 Notices of holidays
The envelopes received by designation only (which are
not marked Secret/Confidential) may be opened by
the Office Superintendent-Whereas as a general
practice by overriding the extant instructions, these
envelopes are being opened by the Receipt Clerk
(Diarist) itself. If an envelope contains a sealed
envelope marked “Secret” or “Confidential” or
addressed by name to any of the officers, it shall
immediately be transmitted unopened to the officer
concerned.
 Dispatch
A letter / communication issued in a case. In other
words, a term used to denote the process of copying
and dispatching communications.
(i) Dispatch of papers: The prime duties of Dispatcher
are that on receipt of letters for dispatch, the
Dispatcher should see whether the papers have been
signed, bear the file number and the enclosures
mentioned therein are properly attached to these.
The papers of confidential or secret nature shall be
dispatched by the Office Superintendent / Asstt.
Administrative Officer himself / herself.
Documents of a confidential nature will be put in a
sealed envelope addressed to the officer concerned by
name and marked “Secret” or “Confidential” as the
case may be. The sealed envelope will be placed in
another envelope which will not be sealed and will be
addressed like any other ordinary communication
either by designation or by name.
 Dispatch Register
 A register is maintained to keep a record of all
outward letters/communications of postal or non-
postal of a Section / Unit / Office / Department
pertaining to addressees. This register is called
dispatch register.
• The dispatch register serves as an evidence of
letters/communications sent and exercise a control
over expenditure on postage and stamps.
• Dispatch registers in Hindi and English should be
maintained separately.
 Dispatch Register
The dispatch/issue register has also eight columns to
record-as under;
1. Serial No. of the letters/communications sent out.
2. Date on which the letter/communication is sent.
3. File number in which the office copy can be located.
4. The person to whom letter is sent.
5. Subject matter of the letter sent in brief.
6. No. of enclosures, if any.
7. Nature of posting whether registered or ordinary.
8. The amount of stamps used.
 Messenger Book
(Acknowledgement Book)
A record of particulars of dispatch/issue of non-postal
communications and their Receipt by the addressees is
controlled through this book.

All Dak to be sent by hand to local offices shall be

entered in Peon Books (Form S-38) having following
columns:
(i) Number (Letter No.1, 2, 3, likewise)
(ii) Month & Date-on which dispatched / issued letters
are to be delivered to addressee.
(iii) Name & Address: To whom dispatched/issued
letters are to be delivered.
(iv) Contents of Cover/Letter. These should be in brief.
(v) By whom delivered: Name of Messenger / Peon /
MTS.
(vi) Acknowledgements in the peon books shall be in
full Signature and not in initials - in ink of the receiver
in the office of addressee.
 Filing System
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.
 Docketing: Docketing is the process of making entries in the
“Notes” portion of a file about each Serial Number assigned to
each item of correspondence for its identification. In a similar
manner, a receipt will be docketed in writing using red ink,
across the page, with the serial number of the communication
followed by its number and date and the designation/name of
the sender.
Linking of Files: In case there are two or more
documents that are linked and on which action is
needed simultaneously, the printed slip bearing
“Please see also the linked file” should be attached to
the top files’ cover, and number of the linked file
should be given on the slip.
Flagging of Papers in a File: If a receipt which is being
considered, then a flag bearing the words Paper Under
Consideration (P.U.C.) should be attached. If there is a
receipt that has been already dispatched, yet there are
some other changes coming up on it, then the P.U.C.
slip should be removed from the old receipt and
affixed to the new one.
Filing System:
(a) A proper filing system is essential for convenient identification,
storage and retrieval (the process of getting something back from
somewhere/the action of obtaining or consulting material stored in
a computer system) of papers. In all the offices, files containing
circulars shall be properly classified (categorized), indexed (list)
and catalogued (organized). The catalogue shall show the brief
subject and page number at which a particular circular can be
found.

(b) Filing system is based on subject classification. As far as possible,

there should be a separate file for each distinct aspect of the subject.
The title of a file should not be couched (contained) in very general
or wide terms which might attract large number of receipts on
different aspect of the matter, thereby making the file unwidely.