53. The following rules relate to payments by cheques.

NOTE—Detailed rules regarding payment of contingent bills by cheques are given in Appendix VII.

54. Disbursing officers authorized to draw cheques whether on Treasuries or Sub-Treasuries or on the Bank should obtain their cheque books direct from the Treasury Officer in-charge of the headquarters Treasury concerned, by sending duly signed, the printed requisitions form which is inserted in each book towards the end. Not more than one book should be obtained on a single requisition. The cheque books should, on receipt, be carefully examined to see that the number of forms contained in each book is intact and a certificate of count should be recorded on the fly-leaf.

55. Cheques from books obtained from a particular Treasury should not be drawn on other Treasuries or on Sub-Treasuries, of other districts. A separate cheque book should be used for each headquarters Treasury or Sub-Treasury, as the case may be.

56. Under Treasury Rule 28, a Government servant who is authorized to draw moneys by means of cheques shall notify to the Bank or the Treasury upon which he draws the number of each cheque book brought into use and the number of cheques it contains. He shall give due notice to the Bank or the Treasury of the cheque book brought into use by him before issuing a cheque from that book. The Bank or the Treasury on which money is drawn shall not cash a cheque unless it has received notice in respect of the cheque book from the Government servant concerned.

NOTE—Chief Conservator of Forests, Conservators of Forests, Silviculturist, Uttar Pradesh, Forest Utilization Officer and Development Officer, Forests, are authorized to use the same cheque book on more than one Treasury, provided that cheques are issued either to themselves or to their tour-clerks and not to any third party, and that the drawing officer shall be responsible for any loss caused to the Government thereby. If any cheque whether used or not is lost, the drawing officer should notify the loss to all the treasuries for which he uses that cheque book and obtain their non-payment certificate.

57. Each cheque book must be kept under lock and key in the personal custody of the drawing officer, who, when received, should take a receipt for the correct number of cheques made over to the relieving officer.

The loss of a cheque book or blank cheque forms should be notified promptly to the Treasury Officer with whom the disbursing officer concerned has a drawing account.

58. All cheques should have written prominently across them in words at right angles to the type, a sum a little in excess of that for which they are granted ; thus ‘under rupees thirty only’ will mean that the cheque is for a sum not less than Rs. 20 but less than Rs. 30 ; and similarly ‘under rupees eight hundred only’ will mean that it is for less than Rs. 800, but not less than Rs. 700. No abbreviation such as "eleven hundred" for "one thousand one hundred" should be used. The amount should be written in the manner prescribed for vouchers in paragraph 47(c). In drawing or cashing a cheque, it should be remembered that a common form of fraud consists in altering the word one into four by prefixing an f and changing the e into an r, the figure being easily altered to correspond. The word twenty, if written carelessly, has also sometimes been changed into seventy. The drawer of a cheque in which these words occur should therefore so write as to make the fraud impossible and the treasury should examine the words and corresponding figures with special care.

NOTES—(1) The cross entry is not necessary if the amount in words is type-perforated by a special cheque-writing machine.

(2) All cheques should be written in special cheque writing ink obtainable from the Superintendent Printing and Stationery, U. P., Allahabad.

(3) Paragraph 47 (d) applies mutatis mutandis to corrections and alterations in cheques. Also see paragraph 45(b) regarding noting of the words "Central" or "State" or letters ‘C’ and ‘S’ in every bill, voucher or cheque.

(4) All corrections and alterations in cheques issued on the Banks should be attested by drawing officers by their full signature.

59. No advice of the issue of any cheque need be sent to the Treasury. As a general rule cheques should not be issued for a sum less than Rs. 10 unless this is permissible under the provision of any law or rule having the force of law.

60. (Deleted).

61. (Deleted).

62. Cheques shall be payable at any time within three months after the month of issue; thus a cheque bearing date any time in January is payable at any time up to April 30th.

If the currency of a cheque should expire owing to its not being presented at the Treasury within the period specified above, it may be received back by the drawer who should then destroy it and issue a new cheque in lieu of it. In the event of non-return of the time-barred cheque to the drawer, the drawer should on the expiry of the prescribed period of three months after the month of issue of the cheque require the payee either to return the cheque or explain the causes for its non-return. If as a result of this enquiry the cheque is reported as lost, the Treasury Officer drawn on should be required to furnish a non-payment certificate with reference to paragraph 65.

63. When a Government servant is authorized to draw cheques on Sub-Treasuries, he should give notice to the Treasury Officer, from time to time, of the probable amount of his drawings on each Sub-Treasury in order that funds may be provided as far as possible. Cheques drawn on Sub-Treasuries should be distinguished by different numbers and letters from those drawn against the headquarters Treasury.

64. (i) Cheques drawn in favour of Government officers and departments in settlement of Government dues shall always be crossed "A/c payee only-not negotiable."

Exception—Cheques preferable at a Treasury for payment are non-negotiable instruments and should not therefore be crossed. In case, however, any cheque preferred at a Treasury has been crossed inadvertantly by the drawer or by the collecting bank, the fact of its being crossed may be treated as of no significance in making payment.

NOTE—The procedure prescribed in this rule applies mutatis mutandis to Indian Postal Orders used for remittance of money on Government account.

64-A. (a) "Every cheque in favour of a Government servant must be made payable to order only ; but when the payee is not in the service of the Government, the drawer may, at his request, make the cheque payable to bearer. Treasury Officers will therefore cash cheques payable to "AB or bearer," except when AB is a Government servant.

If a cheque payable to a person not in the service of the Government "or bearer" or payable to such person or to such person "or order" is presented, the Treasury Officer may decline to pay it if he is unable to satisfy himself of the identity of the person claiming payment, or, in the case of a cheque payable to order, of the completeness of the chain of endorsements, if any, by which such person has become the holder of the cheque.

(b) Ordinarily a cheque payable to order is not cashed by the Treasury Officer unless it is receipted by the payee himself or other person in whose favour it is regularly endorsed for payment. In special cases, when the head of an office is unable himself to receive cheques payable to his order, owing to his being absent on tour or for other causes, and when he considers that strict compliance with the ordinary rule would cause inconvenience, he may specially authorize in writing a subordinate gazetted Government servant to endorse for him cheques drawn in his favour by his official designation.

Payment of cheques including Public Debt Office Interest Warrants which are governed by the Negotiable Instruments Act will be made in accordance with the provisions of that Act and any generally recognized practice established among bankers by custom.

NOTE—When a Government servant sends a cheque to a Treasury not for cash payment, but for credit of its amount in the Treasury accounts, he must, before endorsing the same, add the words "Received payment by transfer credit to..… ". Omission to do this facilitates fraudulent appropriation of money.

64-B. Cheques should be in the standard form and size namely 15 cms. × 7.5 cms. as per specimen given in Form 42-E. For convenience the crossing ‘A/c payee only-not negotiable’ is printed thereon. Where the crossing is not required or where cheques are preferable at a Treasury or Sub-Treasury for payment the portion of the form relating to the crossing should be cancelled under the dated signature of the drawing officer.

65. If a disbursing officer be informed that a cheque drawn by him has been lost, he may address the Treasury Officer drawn on, forwarding for signature a certificate in the accompanying form. If, after search through the lists of cheques paid, the Treasury Officer finds that the cheque has not been cashed, he will sign and return the certificate, taking care to note the stoppage of the cheque, a board showing the particulars of stopped cheques being hung up before the clerk concerned. If the original cheque be presented afterwards the Treasury Officer will refuse payment and return the cheque to the person presenting it after writing across it "Payment stopped." The disbursing officer will enter in his account the original cheque as cancelled, and may issue another :—

"Certified that cheque no.............. dated ............. for Rs. ..............reported by the disbursing officer to have been drawn by him on the Treasury in favour of...................................has not been paid, and will not be paid if presented hereafter,."

TREASURY :

The Treasury Officer.

NOTES—(1) If the currency of a cheque expires on a Saturday, the Treasury Officer shall also verify the list of cheques paid for the subsequent working day of the Bank before the issue of non-payment certificate wherever necessary.

(2) Superscriptions such as ‘duplicate issued in liue of the lost one’, ‘fresh cheque issued in liue of the lost one’ etc., should not be written on the second cheque issued on the Bank or the Treasury in liue of a cheque reported to have been lost.

65-A. If a cheque is issued by a Government servant in payment of any sum due by Government and that cheque is honoured on presentation at the Bank or the Treasury, payment should be deemed to be made.

(a) if the cheque is handed over to the payee or his authorised messenger on the date it is so handed over,

or

(b) if it is posted to the payee in pursuance of a request for payment by post, on the date on which the cover containing it is put into the post.

The rule applies mutatis mutandis to a cheque in payment of Government dues or in settlement of other transactions received and accepted in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 25.

NOTES—(1) The provisions of clause (b) above apply mutatis mutandis to payments made by the Government by Postal Money Order or by any other recognised mode of remitting money by post.

(2) Cheques marked as payable on or after a specified date should not be charged to the accounts until the date on which they become payable. All such cheques should bear the superscription "Payable on or after...................." (specific date of payment to be indicated in the blank space). The superscription should invariably be affixed with a rubber stamp in bold letters just below the date of issue of the cheque. The contemplated due date of payment should preferably be written in red ink.

66. Treasury Rule 29 requires that when a Government servant who is authorized to draw or countersign cheques or bills payable at the Treasury or the Bank, makes over charge of his office to another, he shall send a specimen of the relieving Government servant’s signature to the Treasury Officer or the Bank, as the case may be.

66-A The provisions of paragraphs 55, 57, 58, 59, 62, 64 and 65 apply to the cheques drawn on the Bank.