When railway clerks cashed in, post note ban

Several railway commercial clerks had attempted, a few had even succeeded, to replace their old currencies with lower denominations at the counters by exploiting the leeway given by the railway ministry, which advised them to collect demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from ticket buyers.

At least nine commercial clerks, including the one’s posted at ticket and booking offices in major stations like Moore Market Complex, Chennai Central, Tambaram and Chengalpet have been caught in the act. 

DTNext has reliably learnt that the commercial managers had issued suspension orders to the nine clerks after they were found to be in possession of unusually high volumes of cash on duty on the day after demonetisation. 

Notably, the clerks had recorded their cash possession, one had Rs 15,000 on the day, in the private cash declaration register (PCDR). The cash declarations were also attested by their supervisors as per railway rules, which stipulate that any cash declaration exceeding Rs 750 per staff ought to be countersigned by the supervisor. 

“Normally, clerks do not carry more than a few hundreds to office. Even declaring Rs 500 in PCDR is a rarity, but on the day after demonetisation, the clerks had brought several thousands and declared it. It was unusual and hence triggered suspicion,” an SR officer privy to the development told this paper, adding that senior divisional commercial manager had ordered suspension in a day or two after the declaration came to light on the afternoon of November 9. 

Surprisingly, the suspensions were revoked on November 14. The issue took a dramatic turn again on November 21 when the personnel department transferred six clerks (order copy available with DTNext), including one commercial supervisor from Chengalpet to Sulurpet. Sources also revealed that some big fish in SR had clandestinely exchanged lumpsum at the booking offices in the first week after demonetization, but only the clerks with thousands have fallen in official radar, apparently suggesting that a thorough probe could unearth a bigger scam.