Of fic ia l Le tt er s-

Lett er s t o Go ve rn m en t
a nd Ot he r Of fic es

■ 1. Official Letters/Go ver nment Letters

l r th~ bu~t nL"'s, v.. o d d ~enc ral\y . two type s of com mun icati on
are .....5 ~ ,_· ,2:- :l.
comm un1c a uon a nd 1nt'-'1n i"t\ co mn,u nica hon. Inter nal com mun icati on
tS a n c55c ..... ::~ ;,~-
of th~ 1nh.:"t ndl h 1n( tton1 ng of dny organizat ion . Like wise exter nal
corn mun ic.af c:-~:c- _ ~
1nt~gral part o f all o tfl c1al corre spon de nces .
A gov~ rnm en t o flh. . 1..." cann ot b e cond ucte d with out letters. O~c1 a\ corre
spor< le r t.f: ;o ~ ~
an €Y•\? ' 1 tial p art o f ~\-et"} hum a n b e ing. The offic ial lette
rs ma'> 0c v..'Jl- ~- ":,•
torre :,pun denc e \~.th a , an ofuc.e o r o ut-si de the offic e . Such offic ia l ~.zner
s ai'2 ;o-, a 1-
natu re ~ are b ased 0 :1 cena1n form al rules and regu latio ns.
The\ d ,ftc r from b ~- .sfSS
krl\.'1, \nd pnva te le aers ,n v dliou ~ w ay::, Off1C ial corre :;pon dencl. h3s
cl se'i ior.r1 ana - -
be o f van~ d i\. ~

1.1 Forms of Offi.cial Cor respondence

In •h\: go;, rnme nt orho " n £10y fonn ~ o f ( (,1111n un1< ,:H 10n a re "dop rnd Som e mpo ;; ~·
i<.: nn l:lr~ -,._~ ✓ ,;J.-
 Form s of Offic ial Lette rs

Official Letters Memo s

Derni -officiaVD .0 . Letters Press Notes
Circular letters Notific ations
Express letters E-mail
Notic es Procla matio n
Remin ders Despa tch
Endor semen t Teleg rams etc.

Poin ts to Reme mber

► In an o fficial letter only one subject is dealt with . It should not deal with two subjects
at a time
► Official letters should always be precise and concise.
► They should follow set rules and regulations of official correspondence.
► Subject matter should be divided in
e beginning/introdu ction
<:> body/main subject matter
0 closing
► Words of slang, colloquialism, bombastic style, too n-,uch quotations and foreign
phrases should be avoided.
► Letter 3hould be written in clear and lucid style and should also be complete.
► i\nother important point is the correctness of language otherwise letters, full of errors,
may lead to confusion.
The ability to write a clear and suitable letter that fulfills exactly the object for which it is
written is indispensable to the smooth working of an office. In the words of Hari Mohan.
"Administration- whether in a government office or a business house-cannot be
conducted without letters, but poor and unsuitable letters hinder the smooth working of
administration and hamper business, while well-conducted correspondence adds to the
efficiency of the ad ministration and is so strong a factor of success in business".
1.2 Parts of an Official Leiter
(for details see Unit 3, Chapter 3 and Page Nos. 113 & 114.)
1. Name of the Cone spond ent and his addre ss (including the addres s of the
sende r as well as of the recipi~nt).
2. Date and place
3. Number: A~ official comm unicat ion must be numbe red e.g. No F B 3904(2)etc.
4. Subje ct Line: Before starting the proper letter, in brief subjec t of the letter should be
written .
For exam ple :
Subjec t: Purchase of Computers
Subjec t: Premium of LIC
5. Salut ation: In official letters usual form of salutat ion is 'Sir; I 'Mada m'.
6. Body of the Letter: It should be divided into three parts
(i) The openin g/Intro ductor y paragr aph
(ii) Main Paragr aph and
(iii) The Last/Concluding paragr aph

If a letter is written under the direction or authority of a superi or, the phrase s like 'I am
directe d to' or 'I am desired to' or 'I have the honou r to', or expressions like this are
used.
7. CompUmentary Close : In all official letters, compl imenta ry close is formal one
e.g., 'Yours faithfully'. But if there is a letter written by a superior, compl imentary
close will be 'Yours sincere ly' or 'Sincerely Yours'.
 legible 1 an d no prefix like Dr.. Sir
should ~
8. Si gn at ur e: Sig na tur es sho uld be
gre e or ho no rar y title sh ou ld be wr itte n while signin g a letter.
a~ de d. Lik ew ise no de
9. dre ss of the ad dre sse e on the en ve lop e should be ne atly
S upersc rip tio n: Ad
wr itte n.
l let ter , if necessar y, a list of en clo su res is given, nu mb er of
10. Optio na l Lin es : In off icia
wr itte n.
the co pie s ('C ' for co py ) sh ou ld also be

lt 2. Demi-Official/D.O. Letter en t de pa rtm en ts w hich

qu iry be twe en tw o off ice rs of dif fer
''T his is the na me giv en to an en
off icia l su bje ct un de r co ns ide rat ion ", co mm en ts Hari Mo ha n
has an ind ire ct be ari ng on an
plo ye d wh en the ma tte r de alt wit h is co nfi de nti al or no t su ffic ien tly
Sin ha. Th is for m is em
let ter or to ex pe dit e ma tte rs oth erw ise be ing de layed .
im po rtant to me rit an official
pp ose d to be qu ite for ma l. As a ma tte r of fact, the y are
De mi-o ffic ial letters are no t su
ter s on an o ffic ial su bje ct. Th ey are written in ord er to save tin1e.
pri va te let
18 3. Reminder
'A reminder is a letter written to invite the attention of an officer to some previous
communication, rule or urgent matter'. Reminders are issued according to the need and
that is why no set rules are there for writing reminders. The reminders can be issued twice
or thrice as the case requ1res. Whenever an official document is not received b y the
concerned department, the incharge of that department tssues a reminder to take a n
action . After a lapse of seven days. another reminder is issued to exped ite the m atter. And
again after ten days a nother reminder is sent if the reply is not sent by the co ncerned
department.

~ 4. Endorsement
This is a part of official formal communication. "It is the briefest form thct a n officia\ m ay
use. Endorsements are used when a letter. memorandum , resolution, circular etc. or its
copy has to be forwarded to other authorities and no opinions by the transmitting office are
required to he made on it".
Sample of Endorsement
1. Copy forwarded to The Registrar. H igh court Allahabad, Public Service Commission.
Uttar Pradesh.
2. Copy forwarded to the Superintendent Printing_ and Stationery, U.P. Allahabad for
favour of publication in the next issue of the State Gazette. A Hindi version o f the
Notification Ls enclosed.

~ 5. Press Note
Another important form of a Government letter is Press N ote which is an informal
notification. The Pre ss Note is used to supply information on some important matter. A
press note does not contain any salutation and is drafted i n third person . The government
off:ces use the Press Note to convey their resolution s or decisions. with regard to some
policies.
Sample Press Note
tt is hereby notified that the management of the institution s who \vant to get their schools
recognized for the Board of High School and Intermedia te examina tion of 201 0. should
submit tv.,.o copies of their applications to the office of the d istrict Inspector of Schools or
Regional Inspector of Girls' Schools concerned and one copy direct to this office by August
31 , at the latest.
Sd. S.N. Sharma
Secre1ary to Secondar y Education
'C '
To the leading newspape rs for favour of publication in the next issue of their dailies as a
'news item'.

B 6. Notification
This is a part of official formal communic ation, often notifying the orders of transfer.
retire ment or some amendme nts in rules etc. A notice is prepared just like a press note.

■ 7. [ .. mail
The rapid growth of the internet had made E- mail fast and reliable2 mode of
communication very popular. E- mail has its own vocabulary. It offers tremendou s
advantage s. It helps to se nd messages to as many people as necessary instantaneously3.
Thus, it has become a popula r means of communic ation in governme nt offices, business
organizatio ns and private life .