The Central Government notified the date of enforcement of the Post Office Act, 2023 (43 of 2023) as June 18, 2024.
The Act had received the President's assent on December 24, 2023.
The Act was enacted to consolidate and amend the law relating to the Post Office in India and to provide for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
The Act has replaced the Indian Post Office Act, of 1898, to make it more citizen-centric. The purpose was to ensure the effective functioning of the Postal Department and its services.
The Act includes 16 Sections as compared to the previous legislation which included 77 Sections.
The major difference between the two Acts is that the new Act of 2023 does not contain any provisions related to penalties and offences. For example, in the Act of 1898, Section 49 dealt with the penalty for misconduct of a person employed to carry or deliver mail bags or postal articles, and Section 52 discussed the penalty for theft, dishonest misappropriation, secretion, destruction, or throwing away of postal articles and others.
Section 9 of the Act of 2023, similar to Sections 19, 25, and 26 of the Act of 1898, empowers any officer to cause any item in course of transmission by the Post Office to be intercepted, opened or detained in the interest of the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, emergency, or public safety or upon the occurrence of any contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or any other law for the time being in force.
Section 10 deals with the exemption from any liability i.e. the Post Office shall not incur any liability except such liability as may be prescribed with regard to a service provided by the Post Office. Further, no officer of the Post Office shall incur any liability with regard to a service provided by the Post Office, unless the officer has acted fraudulently or wilfully caused loss, delay or mis-delivery of service. Section 6 of the Act of 1898 dealt with a similar provision.
Further, the Act of 2023 does not include Section 4 of the Act of 1898 which dealt with the exclusive privilege of conveying letters reserved to the Government.
The Act was passed in the winter parliament session in December 2023.
Click here to read the Notification of Date of Enforcement