Encashment of Drafts

324-A. The Advices received from the issuing Treasuries or the Bank shall be opened in the presence of the Treasury Officer, and each dated and initialled by him after he has satisfied himself of its genuineness by examining the signature of the drawer and, if necessray, the post mark. They shall then be sorted and arranged according to the offices from which they are received and pasted chronologically in guard files in such a way that advices’ received from each drawing office may be kept together. These files shall be kept under lock and key.

NOTES—(1) The Treasury Officers should particularly guard against the possibility of the fraud of altering after signature the amount shown in the Advice, by a comparison of the total amount reported in words in the heading with the real total of the figured amounts of an Advice. Any alteration of any entry, whether of names or figures, in an Advice requires the drawer’s full signature, so that it is scarcely possible that any fraud should be attempted by altering the Advice before he has signed it, since at the time of signing he would notice any uncertified correction.

(2) All covers containing "Advices of remittances sold" received from the issuing Treasuries or the Bank shall be superscribed with the words "Remittance Advice."

324-B. The Advices arranged in the manner prescribed in the last preceding rule will facilitate the examination and identification of Drafts, etc., presented for payment. The entries made in an Advice should be such as to place sufficient obstacle to the encashment of Drafts forged or fraudulently altered, and their sequence should effectually bar the use a second time of a particular serial number, and suggest suspicion even of the Advice where a high number follows a low one.

Necessary notes of references touching irregularities of eancellation, issue of certificates of non-payment, Advices of seconds or thirds, and of any other points of importance shall be made on the Advice.

324-C. (a) On a Draft being presented for encashment, the Treasury Officer shall compare it with the Advice, and satisfy himself carefully that it is in order, and that it is receipted on the back by a person able to give a legal quittance. It must be borne in mind that in the case of a Draft on Government Account the liability to the payee named in the Draft can only be discharged by payment to:—

(1) the payee or his lawful agent on identification,or

(2) the payee’s banker who should certify that the amount has been placed to the payee’s credit, or

(3) a person holding a letter of authority from the payee, whose signature must be known to the Treasury Officer and if the letter directs the Treasury Officer to pay the money to a certain named person, that person must be identified to the Treasury Officer before payment can be made.

The only endorsement on such a Draft should be payee’s receipt or that of his lawful agent.

(b) In all other cases where payment is not made on an endorsement in favour of a bank, the Treasury Officer shall not only satisfy himself of the genuineness of the claimant’s signature to the receipt on the back of a Draft but, if the claimant himself is not in attendance, he must assure himself that the presenter of the Draft is the agent or messenger of the legal holder, duly authorized to receive the payment. If the presenter is unknown to the Treasury officials, or, if known, should there be reasonable grounds for questioning his being in lawful possession of the Draft, the Treasury Officer shall demand a letter from the legal holder, authorizing the presenter to receive payment on his behalf. Similarly, in cases where payment is made on an endorsement to a bank, the Treasury Officer must assure himself that the presenter of the Draft is the authorized agent or messenger of the Bank.

NOTE—The letter of authority for receiving payment at the Treasury referred to in this rule is not liable to stamp duty.

324-D. Drafts payable at the District Treasury cannot be endorsed for payment at a Sub-Treasury. But if the money payable on a Draft is required at a Sub-Treasury, and the remittance cannot be effected in accordance with the procedure laid down in paragraph 333, a cash order may be issued to the payee for presentation at the Sub-Treasury. In such a case the payee must receipt the Draft as "Received payment by cash order on..........Sub-Treasury," and the Treasury Officer at the District Treasury shall finally deal with the Draft and take the same precautions regarding the delivery of the cash order as are prescribed in para 324-E below for payment in cash.

324-E. (1) Before issuing pay orders on a Draft, the Treasury Officer shall satisfy himself that the Draft has been advised; that it corresponds in all particulars with the Advice; that it bears the genuine signature of the drawer; that it has not been tampered with; and that it is not a cancelled or a lapsed Draft or one of which a duplicate has been paid.

(2) A Draft may be paid—(i) without Advice, if there is no reason whatsoever to doubt its genuineness, and if sufficient security is offered. In the case of well-known and reliable holders, this security may be dispensed with at the discretion of the Treasury Officer. The Treasury Officer shall in all such cases apply for the necessary Advice without dealy.

(ii) even though differing from the Advicee, at the discretion of the Treasury Officer, provided there is no suspicion of fraudulent alteration, nor any possible doubt of the genuineness of the Draft. Special caution shall be exercised before paying on a Draft an amount larger than that named in the Advice.

324-F. As each Draft or Telegraphic Transfer drawn by the Treasury is paid it must be stamped "paid," the date of payment being at the same time noted in the Advice under the initials of the Treasury Officer.

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