Lok Sabha Question No. 476 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-12-02
Subject: Money Orders
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: S. RAJENDRAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF POSTS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.476 TO BE ANSWERED ON 2 ND  DECEMBER, 2015

## MONEY ORDERS

## 476. SHRI S. RAJENDRAN:

Will  the  Minister  of  COMMUNICATIONS  AND  INFORMATION  TECHNOLOGY be pleased to  state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  received  complaints  of  non-delivery  and  late delivery  of  money  orders  to  the  recipients  and  if  so,  the  number  of  such  complaints received separately, especially in rural areas during the last three years, State/UT-wise;
- (b) the details of inquiry conducted in this regard and the action taken against those found  responsible along with the corrective measures taken to address the complaints and streamline the money order service; and
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  introduced/implemented  instant  money  order scheme in the post offices across the country and if so, the details thereof along with the benefits accrued as a result thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

- (a) Yes Madam. Complaints of non-delivery and late delivery of money orders to the recipients  have  been  received.  The  number  of  complaints  received  regarding  nondelivery and late delivery of money orders to the recipients during the last three years is as follows:

## A. Non-delivery of Money Orders:

| S.     | State/            | 2012-13   | 2012-13   | 2012-13   | 2013-14   | 2013-14   | 2013-14   | 2014-15   | 2014-15   | 2014-15   |
|--------|-------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| No.    | Union Territory   | Rural     | Urban     | Total     | Rural     | Urban     | Total     | Rural     | Urban     | Total     |
| States | States            | States    | States    | States    | States    | States    | States    | States    | States    | States    |
| 1      | Andhra Pradesh    | 484       | 627       | 1111      | 230       | 496       | 826       | 205       | 177       | 382       |
| 2      | Arunachal Pradesh | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       | Nil       |
| 3      | Assam             | 20        | 55        | 75        | 11        | 51        | 62        | 12        | 49        | 61        |

Contd…….2/-

|   4 | Bihar            | 1198   | 514   | 1712   | 569   | 244   | 813   | 150   | 65   | 215   |
|-----|------------------|--------|-------|--------|-------|-------|-------|-------|------|-------|
|   5 | Chhattisgarh     | 125    | 96    | 221    | 181   | 86    | 267   | 40    | 32   | 72    |
|   6 | Goa              | 7      | 3     | 10     | 16    | 4     | 20    | 3     | 1    | 4     |
|   7 | Gujarat          | 1546   | 1714  | 3260   | 1285  | 1465  | 2750  | 555   | 734  | 1289  |
|   8 | Haryana          | 496    | 360   | 856    | 348   | 316   | 664   | 313   | 268  | 581   |
|   9 | Himachal Pradesh | 178    | 48    | 226    | 132   | 37    | 169   | 152   | 30   | 182   |
|  10 | Jammu & Kashmir  | 294    | 54    | 348    | 291   | 46    | 337   | 96    | 15   | 111   |
|  11 | Jharkhand        | 1120   | 478   | 1598   | 1233  | 388   | 1621  | 1051  | 369  | 1420  |
|  12 | Karnataka        | 64     | 375   | 439    | 70    | 360   | 430   | 35    | 310  | 345   |
|  13 | Kerala           | 86     | 75    | 161    | 79    | 55    | 134   | 93    | 68   | 161   |
|  14 | Madhya Pradesh   | 319    | 365   | 684    | 282   | 286   | 568   | 201   | 271  | 472   |
|  15 | Maharashtra      | 1202   | 5395  | 6597   | 1272  | 4327  | 5599  | 1025  | 3081 | 4106  |
|  16 | Manipur          | Nil    | Nil   | Nil    | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil  | Nil   |
|  17 | Mizoram          | 00     | 04    | 04     | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | 00    | 02   | 02    |
|  18 | Meghalaya        | 06     | 02    | 08     | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | 08    | 05   | 13    |
|  19 | Nagaland         | Nil    | Nil   | Nil    | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil  | Nil   |
|  20 | Odisha           | 398    | 110   | 508    | 301   | 141   | 442   | 469   | 173  | 642   |
|  21 | Punjab           | 972    | 1462  | 2434   | 949   | 1053  | 2002  | 631   | 878  | 1509  |
|  22 | Rajasthan        | 348    | 197   | 545    | 266   | 143   | 409   | 230   | 112  | 342   |

Contd………3/-

| 23                | Sikkim                    | 1                 | 0                 | 1                 | 2                 | 0                 | 2                 | 1                 | 0                 | 1                 |
|-------------------|---------------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
| 24                | Tamil Nadu                | 152               | 1035              | 1187              | 116               | 1245              | 1361              | 208               | 1056              | 1264              |
| 25                | Telangana                 | -                 | -                 | -                 | -                 | -                 | -                 | 79                | 289               | 368               |
| 26                | Tripura                   | 03                | 01                | 04                | 04                | 01                | 05                | 03                | 01                | 04                |
| 27                | Uttar Pradesh             | 1096              | 10805             | 11901             | 1124              | 11849             | 12973             | 1259              | 15981             | 17240             |
| 28                | Uttarakhand               | 664               | 444               | 1108              | 580               | 383               | 963               | 426               | 282               | 708               |
| 29                | West Bengal               | 11                | 4                 | 15                | 25                | 6                 | 31                | 23                | 5                 | 28                |
| Union Territories | Union Territories         | Union Territories | Union Territories | Union Territories | Union Territories | Union Territories | Union Territories | Union Territories | Union Territories | Union Territories |
| 1                 | Andaman & Nicobar Islands | 2                 | 0                 | 2                 | 4                 | 0                 | 4                 | 3                 | 0                 | 3                 |
| 2                 | Chandigarh                | 54                | 20                | 74                | 78                | 24                | 102               | 82                | 32                | 114               |
| 3                 | Dadra & Nagar Haveli      | 0                 | 4                 | 4                 | 0                 | 4                 | 4                 | 0                 | 11                | 11                |
| 4                 | Daman and Diu             | 0                 | 7                 | 7                 | 0                 | 13                | 13                | 1                 | 8                 | 8                 |
| 5                 | Delhi                     | 219               | 3173              | 3392              | 168               | 2609              | 2777              | 95                | 2388              | 2483              |
| 6                 | Lakshadweep               | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 |
| 7                 | Puducherry                | 8                 | 8                 | 16                | 9                 | 11                | 20                | 8                 | 14                | 22                |
|                   | Total                     | 11073             | 27435             | 38508             | 9725              | 25643             | 35368             | 7457              | 26707             | 34164             |

## B. Late delivery of Money Orders

| S.     | State/          | 2012-13   | 2012-13   | 2012-13   | 2013-14   | 2013-14   | 2013-14   | 2014-15   | 2014-15   | 2014-15   |
|--------|-----------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| No.    | Union Territory | Rural     | Urban     | Total     | Rural     | Urban     | Total     | Rural     | Urban     | Total     |
| States | States          | States    | States    | States    | States    | States    | States    | States    | States    | States    |
| 1      | Andhra Pradesh  | 141       | 326       | 467       | 94        | 234       | 328       | 41        | 56        | 97        |

Contd………4/-

|   2 | Arunachal Pradesh   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   |
|-----|---------------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
|   3 | Assam               | 28    | 99    | 127   | 20    | 56    | 76    | 20    | 76    | 96    |
|   4 | Bihar               | 3062  | 1313  | 4375  | 855   | 367   | 1222  | 465   | 200   | 665   |
|   5 | Chhattisgarh        | 142   | 146   | 288   | 75    | 140   | 215   | 90    | 47    | 137   |
|   6 | Goa                 | 367   | 51    | 418   | 137   | 18    | 155   | 75    | 5     | 80    |
|   7 | Gujarat             | 633   | 2381  | 3014  | 542   | 1356  | 1898  | 355   | 759   | 1114  |
|   8 | Haryana             | 516   | 133   | 649   | 524   | 156   | 680   | 301   | 106   | 407   |
|   9 | Himachal Pradesh    | 132   | 42    | 174   | 111   | 39    | 150   | 43    | 12    | 55    |
|  10 | Jammu & Kashmir     | 840   | 214   | 1054  | 858   | 234   | 1092  | 426   | 82    | 508   |
|  11 | Jharkhand           | 82    | 15    | 97    | 51    | 08    | 59    | 105   | 16    | 121   |
|  12 | Karnataka           | 449   | 504   | 953   | 443   | 574   | 1017  | 336   | 523   | 859   |
|  13 | Kerala              | 1600  | 419   | 2019  | 612   | 226   | 838   | 281   | 154   | 435   |
|  14 | Madhya Pradesh      | 326   | 367   | 693   | 406   | 338   | 744   | 290   | 308   | 598   |
|  15 | Maharashtra         | 1674  | 872   | 2546  | 1732  | 502   | 2032  | 740   | 638   | 1378  |
|  16 | Manipur             | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   |
|  17 | Mizoram             | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   |
|  18 | Meghalaya           | 07    | 05    | 12    | 10    | 05    | 15    | 17    | 14    | 31    |
|  19 | Nagaland            | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   | Nil   |
|  20 | Odisha              | 1138  | 380   | 1518  | 919   | 473   | 1392  | 972   | 292   | 1264  |
|  21 | Punjab              | 169   | 149   | 318   | 154   | 129   | 283   | 193   | 119   | 312   |
|  22 | Rajasthan           | 693   | 642   | 1335  | 582   | 590   | 1172  | 817   | 759   | 1576  |
|  23 | Sikkim              | 7     | 2     | 9     | 24    | 3     | 27    | 48    | 3     | 51    |

Contd………5/-

| 24                | Tamil Nadu                | 387               | 684               | 1071              | 377               | 693               | 1070              | 328               | 398               | 726               |
|-------------------|---------------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------|
| 25                | Telangana                 |                   |                   |                   |                   |                   |                   | 39                | 115               | 154               |
| 26                | Tripura                   | 16                | 01                | 17                | 17                | Nil               | 17                | 10                | 02                | 12                |
| 27                | Uttar Pradesh             | 1123              | 2726              | 3849              | 1083              | 2068              | 3151              | 874               | 2023              | 2897              |
| 28                | Uttarakhand               | 220               | 154               | 374               | 195               | 127               | 322               | 135               | 95                | 230               |
| 29                | West Bengal               | 158               | 61                | 219               | 2668              | 249               | 2917              | 3399              | 432               | 3831              |
| Union Territories | Union Territories         | Union Territories | Union Territories | Union Territories | Union Territories | Union Territories | Union Territories | Union Territories | Union Territories | Union Territories |
| 1                 | Andaman & Nicobar Islands | 20                | 1                 | 21                | 112               | 0                 | 112               | 141               | 2                 | 143               |
| 2                 | Chandigarh                | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 |
| 3                 | Dadra & Nagar Haveli      | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 |
| 4                 | Daman and Diu             | 1                 | 7                 | 8                 | 2                 | 8                 | 10                | 2                 | 7                 | 9                 |
| 5                 | Delhi                     | 662               | 317               | 979               | 484               | 110               | 594               | 210               | 98                | 308               |
| 6                 | Lakshadweep               | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 0                 | 1                 | 1                 |
| 7                 | Puducherry                | 7                 | 11                | 18                | 5                 | 12                | 17                | 4                 | 14                | 18                |
|                   | Total                     | 14600             | 12022             | 26622             | 13092             | 8715              | 21809             | 10757             | 7356              | 18113             |

(b) Enquiries  are  conducted  to  ascertain  the  actual  reason  for  non-payment  or  late payment of Money Orders. The cause of delay for payment of money order may be due to several reasons such as absence of payee/non-availability of payee at the time of delivery, death  of  payee,  wrong  /  incomplete  address,  incorrect  PIN  Code  or  change  in  address, technical  problems  in  electronic  transmission  system,  delay  in  transmission  of  money orders  due  to  natural  calamities,  civil  disturbance  like  bandhs,  hartals,  transport  strike, constraint  of  intra  city  movement.  Accordingly,  cause  of  action  is  decided  to  settle  the complaint. The information regarding number of inquiries conducted in 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 is at Annexure-I.

If  any  official  is  found  at  fault  in  late  payment  or  non-payment  of  money  orders, suitable administrative/disciplinary action is taken depending on gravity of lapses noticed. The information regarding the number of officials against whom administrative/disciplinary action has been taken in 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 is at Annexure-II.

In case of non-payment of money order due to service fault, duplicate money orders are  issued.  The  Department  has  introduced  electronic  transmission  of  money  orders  for their speedy transmission to the office of delivery. Where technological faults in technical transmission are noticed, suitable action for rectification is taken. If there is a problem with cash flow, action is taken to improve the cash flow and authorized balances of Post Offices are revised to meet the cash requirements. Computerized Customer Care Centre (CCC) based  Grievance  Redress  Mechanism  is  set  in  place  to  facilitate  efficient  handling  of complaints.

(c) Yes Madam, the Government has introduced instant money order service on 20 th January 2006. This service is now available in 16983 Post Offices across the country as on 31.10.2015. The service is instant, convenient, reliable and affordable. The maximum limit of  remitting  money is Rs.50,000/- whereas for the ordinary money order it is Rs. 5,000/only. The tariff charged for this service is also very low as compared to the ordinary money order.

## Contd…….7/-

## Annexure I

## Number of Inquiries Conducted during the last three years

| Ser No   | Name of Circle   |   2012-13 |   2013-14 |   2014-15 |   Total | Remarks   |
|----------|------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1.       | Andhra Pradesh   |       660 |       370 |       437 |    1467 |           |
| 2.       | Assam            |         0 |         0 |         0 |       0 |           |
| 3        | Bihar            |      2278 |       893 |       360 |    3531 |           |
| 4        | Chhattisgarh     |       509 |       482 |       209 |    1200 |           |
| 5        | Delhi            |        36 |        44 |        60 |     140 |           |
| 6.       | Gujarat          |         0 |         2 |         1 |       3 |           |
| 7.       | Haryana          |         0 |         0 |         1 |       1 |           |
| 8.       | Himachal Pradesh |         0 |         0 |         0 |       0 |           |
| 9.       | Jammu & Kashmir  |         0 |         0 |         0 |       0 |           |
| 10.      | Jharkhand        |        21 |        21 |        28 |      70 |           |
| 11.      | Karnataka        |        26 |        35 |        55 |     116 |           |
| 12.      | Kerala           |      2030 |       844 |       453 |    3327 |           |
| 13.      | Madhya Pradesh   |       580 |       480 |       439 |    1499 |           |
| 14.      | Maharashtra      |       197 |       176 |        90 |     463 |           |
| 15.      | North East       |         0 |         0 |         7 |       7 |           |
| 16.      | Odisha           |      2026 |      1834 |      1906 |    5766 |           |
| 17.      | Punjab           |         4 |         5 |         6 |      15 |           |
| 18.      | Rajasthan        |       247 |       219 |       130 |     596 |           |
| 19       | Tamil Nadu       |        29 |        27 |        63 |     119 |           |
| 20       | Uttar Pradesh    |      3891 |      3045 |      2618 |    9554 |           |
| 21       | Uttarakhand      |         0 |         0 |         1 |       1 |           |
| 22.      | West Bengal      |         0 |         0 |         1 |       1 |           |
|          | Total            |     12534 |      8477 |      6865 |   27876 |           |

## Contd…….8/-

## Annexure II

## Number of Erring officials against  whom Administrative /Disciplinary Action has been taken during last three years.

| Ser No   | Name of Circle   |   2012-13 |   2013-14 |   2014-15 |   Total | Remarks   |
|----------|------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1.       | Andhra Pradesh   |         1 |         0 |         2 |       3 |           |
| 2.       | Assam            |         0 |         0 |         0 |       0 |           |
| 3        | Bihar            |        16 |        17 |         5 |      38 |           |
| 4        | Chhattisgarh     |         0 |         1 |         0 |       1 |           |
| 5        | Delhi            |         0 |         0 |         5 |       5 |           |
| 6.       | Gujarat          |         0 |         2 |         1 |       3 |           |
| 7.       | Haryana          |         0 |         0 |         1 |       1 |           |
| 8.       | Himachal Pradesh |         2 |         1 |         1 |       4 |           |
| 9.       | Jammu & Kashmir  |         0 |         0 |         0 |       0 |           |
| 10.      | Jharkhand        |         0 |         0 |         0 |       0 |           |
| 11.      | Karnataka        |        23 |        23 |        24 |      70 |           |
| 12.      | Kerala           |        11 |         6 |        18 |      35 |           |
| 13.      | Madhya Pradesh   |         3 |         5 |         4 |      12 |           |
| 14.      | Maharashtra      |         0 |         0 |         0 |       0 |           |
| 15.      | North East       |         0 |         0 |         1 |       1 |           |
| 16.      | Odisha           |         0 |         0 |         0 |       0 |           |
| 17.      | Punjab           |         4 |         5 |         6 |      15 |           |
| 18.      | Rajasthan        |         9 |        10 |        18 |      37 |           |
| 19       | Tamil Nadu       |        19 |        26 |        29 |      74 |           |
| 20       | Uttar Pradesh    |         3 |         4 |         2 |       9 |           |
| 21       | Uttarakhand      |         0 |         0 |         2 |       2 |           |
| 22.      | West Bengal      |         0 |         0 |         1 |       1 |           |
|          | Total            |        91 |       100 |       120 |     311 |           |

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