Cheque system in PO Savings Bank

Introduction PO Savings bank transacts in cheques for Acceptance of cheques for opening of accounts or investment in certificates Subsequent deposits in accounts Allowing withdrawals from cheque accounts Stocks and issues cheque books to depositors

General conditions Facility of deposit or withdrawal by cheque in SB account is available in all HOs and Departmental SOs BOs/EDSOs can only accept deposits by cheque/DD SB Cheque accounts can be opened only by literate adults who can sign in running hand The minimum balance is Rs. 500.00 The depositor should be properly introduced Passbook need not be presented with deposit or cheque withdrawal

Acceptance of cheques for deposit General conditions Cheque is written and signed in ink Cheque should not be post dated Cheque should not be more than 3 months old Cheque is drawn or endorsed in favour of the Postmaster Cheque should be crossed generally or specially to POSB Amount entered in words and figures tally Not drawn for amount less than Rs. 5/- No corrections, overwriting or erasures Not mutilated or torn Endorsement, if cheque is not drawn in favour of Postmaster by depositor If cheque is in favour of depositor, the depositor will enter the cheque of cheque in pay-in-slip If cheque is drawn by a third party in favour of Postmaster, cheque should be accompanied by an application from depositor Cheque drawn on POSB in favour of person other than depositor can be accepted, if it is duly endorsed in favour of depositor

Acceptance of cheques for deposit Opening of accounts For SB accounts, initial deposit should be only through cash For other types of accounts cheques can be accepted but account opened only after realisation For investment in NSC also, certificates are issued only after realisation, but only local cheques drawn in favour of Postmaster are accepted

Acceptance of cheques for deposit Subsequent deposits SB – amount is accounted for after realisation and the date of realisation is the date of deposit RD – amount is accounted for on realisation and date of presentation is taken as date of deposit PPF – amount of subscription accounted for on realisation and date of realisation of cheque is taken as date of deposit

Local and outstation cheques Criteria Cheque drawn on any bank at the same station of PO where cheque is accepted is treated local Cheque drawn on any bank at the same station of HO and accepted at any of the SOs treated as local All other cheques are treated as outstation cheques Collection charges on outstation cheques For the first Rs. 1000/- …………………………Rs. 30.00 For every additional Rs. 1000/- or part . Rs. 3.00

Collection charges on o/s cheques No commission is charged on outstation cheques drawn on POSB No commission is charged on cheques presented on local bank of SO and got cleared through HO concerned due to non availability of SBI/nationalised bank/clearing house

Procedure followed Cheques accepted for deposit in POSB Details of cheques accepted to be entered in Register The office will prepare list of cheques for collection in SB-51 in triplicate and submit to bank Bank gives acknowledgement on the third copy for acceptance On realisation, the bank returns the second copy with due remarks The PO will account for the amount as deposit or investment as the case may be, taking date of realisation as date of deposit and showing the amount as remittance to bank in the accounts In case of SOs without clearing facility, cheques will be sent to HO for realisation HO realises the cheques and takes the deposit as Part II deposit to HO sending intimation to SO; SO makes entry in ledger in red ink as Part III deposit ( In case of new accounts or NSC investment, HO sends intimation to SO, retaining the amount of deposit as remittance in advance) Intimation of realisation has to be sent to depositor

In Sanchay Post The operator has to enter the cheques received using the ‘Cheque clearing – prepare cheque list option’ On the date of realisation, the operator should use the menu ‘Cheque clearing – Realisation/ Posting of cheque’ and mark the cheques realised In case of SB deposits, the operator has to use the option ‘Post realised cheques’ to enter deposit of these cheques in concerned accounts In case of accounts opened or NSC investment, select cheque option and the realised cheque concerned In SB cash, the total amount of these cheques to be shown as ‘Remittance to bank’

In offices without Sanchay Post List of cheques can be generated in SB cash using the menu ‘Tools – Entering unaccounted cheques’ Manual process of deposit/investment entry to be completed in the usual course Total amount of realisation of cheques to be entered in SB cash using the menu ‘Remittance – Remittance to Bank’

Withdrawal through cheque Following checks to be applied on the cheque presented Cheque is in form supplied by the PO to depositor Cheque is neither cancelled nor mutilated or torn Not drawn for amount below Rs. 5/- No stop payment instructions from drawer exist Signature of drawer/s tally with specimen on record Cheque is within the period of currency Amount in words and figures tally Balance is sufficient Withdrawal can also be allowed even if balance goes below minimum for cheque but depositor should be suitably advised

Modes of payment Uncrossed cheques Crossed cheque Order cheque - paid to the payee Bearer cheque – paid to bearer after due identification Crossed cheque Payable to banker Withdrawal can also be allowed on SB-7 to depositor after confirming genuineness

Clearing house process for POSB The clearing house hands over the cheques drawn on POSB to PO representative PO representative comes to HO and checks instrument and availability of funds In case of SO cheques, HO sends cheque to SO for verification, blocking the amount and returning cheque For accepted cheques, PM draws a cheque for total amount in favour of clearing house and representative hands over at the next meeting In case of SO cheques, the withdrawal is taken as Part II withdrawal at HO and Part III by SO In case of cheques not accepted, HO prepares bank wise list and returns to clearing house

Action in Sanchay Post The operator has to use the option SB – Advice of remittance, select the cheque concerned, enter the amount and Send the transaction when cheque is received for verification When payment is processed in clearing house, the operator to use the same menu again and mark the cheque as processed

Clearing house process for cqs recd SOs to prepare and send cheques for clearance to HO identified as member of clearing house HO will include its own cheque and prepare bank wise/ branch wise lists in four copies Clearing house affords credit for the cheques cleared and sends scroll; Dishonoured cheques returned by clearing house with remarks Thereafter, the HO accounts for transactions as Part I or Part II deposits in the usual course

Dishonoured cheques Dishonoured cheques are returned to depositor with objection memo Service charge of Rs. 50/- and postage charges for return memo recovered from account – credited to UCR

Issue of cheque book In Sanchay Post In case of new accounts, the cheque leaves drawn is shown in the account opening form; The operator and supervisor to ensure same cheque book is given The rubber stamp impression of office name has to be impressed in each cheque leaf and also account number(Supervisor’s role)

Issue of cheque book in Sanchay Post Issue of fresh cheque book Supervisor uses the group SB and selects the form Issue cheque book and draws new form In the form, he enters the accounts number, presses Enter key The number of unused cheque leaves are displayed The supervisor selects the number of cheque leaves in the book; the serial number of cheques to be issued is displayed Supervisor clicks Send option, selects the same cheque book, impresses rubber stamp of account number and office name and issues cheque to depositor

Issue of cheque book manually On receipt of request from depositor, cheque book is deducted from the stock, stamp of PO name and account number impressed on each leaf and issued to depositor Entry of the cheque book issued will be made in the ledger

Closure of cheque account The unused cheque book or leaves to be surrendered by the depositor Unused cheque book to be taken to stock and can be issued to another depositor A note should be made in the ledger/ ledger card Unused cheque leaves in a book should be transferred to SBCO SBCO should cancel all unused cheque leaves Same procedure will be followed in case of transfer In Sanchay Post, when cheque a/c is closed, Application will show the list of cheque leaves remaining unused and operator has to confirm receipt of these