2401. Refund of Unclaimed Overcharges.—Overcharges, either coaching or goods amounting to Rs. 25 or more not claimed at the time of delivery nor subsequently claimed, which arc discovered in the Accounts Office not later than six months after the money has been collected, should be listed under stations which respectively collected the freight. Care should be taken to see that no item is included in the list for which an Overcharge Sheet (COM/0. 7 Revised) has already been certified vide Paragraph 2406 or Refund List (COM/R. 12 Revised) has been passed vide Paragraph 2403. Separate lists should be made out, in duplicate, for each station  and sent to the Claims Office. As, in the case of entries made in these lists no overcharge returns are required to be submitted, great care should be taken to enter the amounts clearly and this should be done both in figures and words. Suitable remarks in regard to the item having been included in the statement of unclaimed overcharges should be given against the relevant entry of Invoice/Parcels Way-Bill etc. in the connected Return to prevent the possibility of refund being made more than once in connection with the same transaction. 

 2402. The Claims Office will ask the Station Masters concerned to intimate: — 

(i)         the full names and addresses of the parties who are entitled to the refund;

(i)         the freight collected in cash or by credit note; and

(iii)       whether the refund was allowed at the time of delivery of goods or not. 

If on receipt of this information, the refund is found to be due, a Pay Order for the amount will be sent to the party concerned under a registered cover, the particulars of the Pay Order being intimated to the Accounts Officer through the list mentioned in Paragraph 2409 (See also Paragraph 2733). 

 2403. Check of Refunds made by Stations.—Lists of Refunds of Overcharges (COM/R. 12 Revised) allowed by stations at the time of delivery of goods/parcels are received in the Accounts Office accompanied by the related Invoices/ copies of Parcels Way-Bills. Such Invoices/ Parcels Way-Bills should, in the first instance, be completely checked and thereafter the Lists of Refunds compared with the checked Invoices/Parcels Way-Bills. The overcharge should be passed if found correct. A note as to the overcharge having been refunded should be made against rele­vant entry in the Inwards Machine Abstracts/ 'To Pay' Parcels Abstracts in order to obviate the possibility of duplicate and erroneous refunds being granted. 

 2404. In checking the Refund Lists (COM/R. 12 Revised), it should further be seen that. — 

(1)        the Invoice/Way-Bill, in connection with which the refund is made, has been accounted for by the station in its Returns;

(2)        the amount of "freight charged" and other particulars entered in the lists, agree with those shown in the connected invoice/Way-Bills ;

(3)        the amount refunded does not exceed the correct amount of overcharge. If more has been refunded, the excess should be debited against the station through an error sheet ;

(4)        against every item in the list, there is a formal acknowledgement of the consignee or his authorised agent in English or in Hindi or if in any other language, has been rendered into English or Hindi. The signature of the Station Master or that of the Chief Goods/Parcels Clerk should also appear at the foot of the form; and

(5)        the refunds are such as the Station Master is authorised to allow at the time of delivery (vide Paragraph 2158-CM).   If the list included any refunds for which an Overcharge Sheet is necessary (vide Paragraph 2161-CM), such refunds should not be passed unless these are cer­tified by the Traffic; Officer. 

 2405. The amount for which each refund list is passed should be recorded in the Accounts enfacement in figures as well as in words. 

 2406. Check of Overcharge Sheets.—In the case of an overcharge due to.—  

(i)   error in weight, description or routing of traffic; or

(ii)  error in rate, classification or computation of freight claimed after delivery of goods etc; or

(iii) amount twice paid, 

an Overcharge Sheet (COM/0.7 Revised) is prepared by the Claims Office and submitted to the Accounts Office for certification before issuing a Pay Order in favour of the person entitled to the refund. Overcharge Sheets received for certification should be checked to see that. — 

(1)        they contain all the information required by the form;

(2)        the particulars shown therein agree with those in the related Invoice/Parcels Way-Bill etc.

(3)        in the case of Overcharge Sheet on account of error in weight.— 

(i)         full details of reweighment are given on the reverse of the Overcharge Sheet;

(ii)        where the result of reweighment has been communicated by the forwarding or other station, such Station Master's letter or telegram admitting the overcharge accompanies the Overcharge Sheet,

(iii)       the correct weight has been certified by the responsible Traffic Officer on the Overcharge Sheet;

(4) where the Overcharge is the result of an error in description or routing of traffic, the correct description of the goods etc. or the correct route has been certified by the Traffic Officer on the Over­charge Sheet;

(5) in the case of goods not specifically mentioned in the Goods Tariff issued by the Indian Railway Conference Association, regarding which doubt exists as to the class chargeable, the correct classification has been certified by a competent officer of the Traffic Department;

(6) the charges have bean calculated on the basis of particulars given in the "should be" column of Overcharge Sheet as checked with the related Invoice/Parcels Way Bill etc. vide clause (2) above and are correct;

(7) where the conditions applying to the rates charged in the "should be" column require the loading and unloading by Owners, a remark appears on the Overcharge Sheet that this condi­tion has been fulfilled;

(8) where alternative Owner's Risk rate is quoted and the charges in the "should be" column of the Overcharge Sheet have been calculated at the Owner's Risk rate, the related Invoice/Parcels Way-Bill etc. does not bear the remark "Railway Risk rate elected and Sender given a certificate".

(9) the amount proposed to be refunded is equal to the difference between the amounts shown in the "charged" and "should be" columns.

(10) where demurrage and wharfage charges have been foregone, the Overcharge Sheet has been certified by the. competent Traffic authority;

(11) the Overcharge has been claimed within six months from the date of payment  or the date of  delivery of such Goods  at the destination station whichever is  later; except for amount twice paid in which case it should be seen that the claim has been made within 3 years from the date on which the second payment was made; and

(12) the Overcharge Sheet does not relate to an item already included in the list of Unclaimed Overcharges of Rs. 25 and over (Paragraph 2401). 

Note.—(1) In the case of overcharges upto a limit of Rs. 300 both in respect of local and through traffic, re­funds wiil be granted without prior certification by the Accounts Department. The Overcharge Sheets after payment will be forwarded to the Accounts Department for post-check. 

(2) The post-check of refunds above will behe exercised as follows :

 2407. The amount of "freight actually collected" as shown in the Overcharge Sheet should be verified from the documents indicated below. —

A suitable remark in regard to an overcharge Sheet having been certified should be made against the relevant entry in the Returns etc. to prevent the possibility of a second claim in respect of the same transaction being passed. 

 2408. The certified Overcharge Sheets, after the accounts certification, should be returned to the Traffic Department for arranging the issue of necessary Pay Orders in favour of the persona entitled to the refund. The amounts and other necessary particulars of the Overcharge Sheets passed in the Accounts Office should be recorded in a register maintained for the purpose, to keep a watch over outstanding claims. A similar register should also be maintained to record all Over­charge Sheets relating to post-check. 

Note.—On Railways where the refund is arranged by the Accounts Office, the certified Over Chargesheets will not be returned to the Traffic Department but will be retained in the Accounts Office for arranging payment to the persons entitled to the refund. 

 2409. The Traffic Officer issuing Pay Orders is required to send, monthly, to the Accounts Office a list of all Pay Orders issued by him . These lists should be checked in the Accounts Office with reference to the entries in the Register of Overcharge Sheets mentioned in the preceding paragraph and a note as to the number and date of the Pay Order kept in the Register against the relevant entry. The Traffic Officer should be advised of any Pay Orders, which have not been received from the stations. 

 2410. Overcharge Sheets relating to Station Outstanding.—The circumstances in which Overcharge Sheets may be certified by stations to clear outstandings against them are stated in Chapter IX and XVIII of the Indian Railway Commercial Manual.  Overcharge Sheets for the clearance of outstandings against stations on account of consignments lost, stolen, destroyed or sold or over-carried from other Railways and in respect of demurrage and wharfage charges foregone or re­mitted, require to be certified by a competent officer of the Traffic Department. 

 2411. The instructions laid down in Paragraphs 2406 and 2407 regarding the check of Over-charge Sheets relating to public claims apply generally to the Overcharge Sheets submitted for the clearance of station outstandings. Besides the checks enumerated therein, the Overcharge Sheets pertaining to the clearance of station outstandings should be further checked to see. : — 

(1)  that when an Invoice/Parcels Way-Bill is issued to a wrong station or when a consignment is delivered short of destination or diverted or reconsigned to some other station, the particulars of the fresh Invoice/Parcels Way-Bill issued by the Forwarding station to the correct destination have been given in the "should be" column of Overcharge sheet and the same has been accounted for in the related Return;

(2)  that if two Invoices/Parcels Way-Bills have been issued to the same station in connection with the same consignment, the particulars of both the Invoices/Paicels Way-Bills agree;

(3)  that in the case of an Invoice/Parcels Way-Bill, issued Paid instead of "To-Pay "or vice-versa, it has been accounted for the in the relevant Returns as originally issued;

(4)  that in every case the Overcharge Sheet is signed by both the forwarding and the receiving stations;

(5)  that Overcharge Sheets are not submitted for.— 

(a) Invoices/Parcels Way-Bills accounted for more than once by the stations;

(b) charges due at a rsbooking stition;

(6)  that no Overcharge Sheet is received for "free" Invoices/Paresis Way Bills issued in connection with Goods/ Parcels etc. overcarried or transferred to the Lost Property Office; and

(7)  that in the case of consignments sold, the amount and particulars of remittance of sale proceeds have been given; the latter should be verified in the Accounts Office. 

 2412. Record of Specimen Signatures. -Specimen signatures of Traffic Officers authorized to sign Overcharge Sheets in respect of both refunds and outstandings will be supplied to tho Accounts Office by the Chief Commercial Superintendent. These should be pasted in a register and on receipt of an Overcharge Sheet in the Accounts Office, it should be seen that the signature on the Overcharge Sheet agrees with that recorded in the register. 

 2413. Check of Compensation Claims.—Claims for compenstaion to relating Goods  , Coaching and the connected Pay Orders should be checked by the  Traffic Accounts Office in the manner and to the extant indicated below :-

 The results of the post check vide (ii) above should be put up every month to the concerned Head of Department by the Branch Accounts Office. 

 2414. The nature of checks to be exercised in connection with the compensation claims if indicated below. These instructions are, however, by no means exhaustive and may be supple­mented by detailed instructions considered necessary by the Financial Adviser and Chief Accountt Officer.— 

(1)        that the claim is supported by original documents as required under the rules,

(2)        that the claim has been lodged within a period of six months from the date of entrustment of goods to the railway adminstration to which the goods are entrusted for carriage or to the railway adminstration on whose railway, the distination lies or the  loss, destruction, damage or deterioration occurs, and veriefied properly by Commercial Department and the claimant’s title established.

(3)        that particulars of booking and the name of the consignee or consignor (claimant) are correct and verified by the Traffic Department.

(4)        that complete enquiries have been made to establish railway's liability for loss or damage,

(5)        that in the case of damage, full details of assessment of damage, such as beejuck rate, market rate, percentage of damages, are given by the Commercial Department.

(6)        that the quantum of compensation is such as to place the receiver of the compen­sation more or less in the same position in which he would have been but for the circumstances which brought about the necessity for Compensation.

(7)        that 'to-pay' freight charges and wharfage/demurrage wherever due, have been deducted from the amount of claim settled.