Ask anyone in the Department of Posts what "Rule 38" means and you won't get a blank stare. You'll get a sigh, a story, and probably the name of a colleague who's been waiting three years to get home.
Rule 38 is the request transfer — the rule that lets you move from the division or circle you were posted to, back to the one you actually want to live in. On paper it's a single clause in the Postal Manual. In practice it's the most talked-about, most misunderstood, and most emotionally loaded rule a postal employee ever deals with.
I've watched people apply for it the week they joined, and I've watched people give up on it after a decade. Both made the same mistake — they didn't understand how the rule actually works before pinning their life on it. So let me walk you through it the way I'd explain it to a junior who just got posted 1,400 km from home.
What Rule 38 actually is
Rule 38 sits in the Postal Manual Volume IV and governs the transfer of Group C officials — Postal Assistants, Sorting Assistants, Postmen, MTS and similar cadres — on their own request.
That phrase, "on their own request", is the whole thing. This is not the department moving you for administrative reasons. This is you asking to be moved to a station of your choice, for your own convenience — usually to be near family, a spouse, ageing parents, or your home town.
And because it's for your convenience, not the department's, it comes with a price. Two prices, actually.
First, it's at your own cost. A Rule 38 transfer is treated as a transfer at the official's own request, so you don't get the transfer TA, and joining time is limited. You pay to move yourself. That part people accept easily.
Second — and this is the one that breaks hearts — you lose your seniority. More on that below, because it deserves its own section.
The two kinds of Rule 38 transfer
There are two very different journeys under the same rule, and mixing them up causes half the confusion I see.
Intra-circle transfer means moving within your own postal circle — say from one division to another inside Tamil Nadu Circle. This is the easier of the two. It's handled within the circle, and the waiting times, while still real, are usually shorter.
Inter-circle transfer means moving from one circle to another entirely — Kerala Circle to Karnataka Circle, for instance. This is the hard one. It needs a No Objection Certificate from your present circle and acceptance from the circle you're going to, and it's capped tightly. The department only allows inter-circle Rule 38 transfers against a limited share of vacancies, which is why the queues run into years.
If you're planning around Rule 38, be honest with yourself about which one you actually need. An inter-circle move is a different animal from an intra-circle one.
The seniority catch — read this twice
Here's the part nobody tells you until it's too late.
When you transfer under Rule 38, you go to the bottom of the seniority list in your new division or circle. You start again, below every official already there — including people who joined service years after you.
Think about what that means. Promotion in Posts runs on seniority. So the day you land in your new station on a Rule 38 transfer, your promotion clock effectively resets relative to your new colleagues. A Postal Assistant with twelve years of service can arrive in a new circle and sit below a colleague with four years, purely because Rule 38 dropped them to the bottom of the list.
I've seen this play out badly. A friend transferred inter-circle to be near his parents, which was the right call for his family — but he watched juniors from his old division get promoted to LSG while he waited, because his seniority had been wiped in the new circle. He doesn't regret the move. But he'd have planned it very differently if someone had explained the trade-off before he applied.
So before you apply, ask yourself the real question: is being home worth resetting your promotion prospects? For a lot of people the answer is a clear yes. Just make it with open eyes.
What it costs you: pay, TA and joining time
Because Rule 38 is a transfer at your own request, the money side works against you, and it's worth budgeting for before you apply.
You don't get transfer TA — the travelling allowance the department pays when it moves you administratively. On a Rule 38 move, packing up your household, transporting your goods across a few hundred kilometres, and settling into a new town all come out of your own pocket. For a family move that isn't a small number.
Joining time is also treated differently from a normal transfer. On an own-request transfer you're generally not entitled to the full joining time you'd get if the department had posted you; you're expected to report without the same cushion. Plan your relieving and joining dates carefully so you don't burn casual leave covering the gap.
Your pay itself is protected — you carry your basic pay and pay level with you, so there's no financial demotion. What you lose is the seniority position and the transfer perks, not your salary. That distinction matters: Rule 38 costs you money and promotion timing, not your pay scale.
Who is eligible
The exact conditions get revised by Directorate orders every few years, so always check the latest one before you apply — but the core requirements have been stable for a long time:
- You must be a confirmed, regular employee, not on probation.
- You must have completed the minimum service the current orders prescribe in your present unit.
- You must be clear of any vigilance or disciplinary case — a pending case freezes your application.
- The transfer must be to a matching cadre and grade — Postal Assistant to Postal Assistant, Postman to Postman. You can't jump cadres through Rule 38.
- There must be a vacancy at the receiving end, within the permitted quota.
That last point is the quiet killer. Even if you tick every box, you only move when a vacancy opens up within the allowed share and your name is at the top of the waiting list. No vacancy, no transfer, no matter how strong your grounds.
How to actually apply
The mechanics are straightforward; the waiting is not.
- Submit your application through proper channel to your Divisional Head, stating the division or circle you want and the grounds.
- For an inter-circle move, your present circle issues an NOC, and the receiving circle has to be willing to accept you against a vacancy.
- Your name goes onto a waiting list, maintained in order of the date of application (and any priority category you qualify for).
- When a vacancy falls due to you, you get an offer. Accept it, get relieved, and join at your own cost.
Keep a copy of everything, note your application date, and follow up periodically. The date of application often decides your place in the queue, so applying early — even years before you expect to move — is genuinely worth doing.
Grounds that carry weight
Rule 38 doesn't formally rank all reasons equally. Certain grounds are treated with priority in the queue, and it's worth knowing where you stand:
- Spouse posting — where husband and wife are in government service at different stations, getting them together is a recognised, sympathetic ground.
- Serious medical grounds — of the employee or a dependent, backed by proper certification.
- Care of aged or infirm parents — increasingly recognised, though documentation matters.
If your case fits one of these, say so clearly and attach the proof. A well-documented spouse or medical case can move faster than a plain "home town" request.
Rule 38 vs mutual transfer vs administrative transfer
People blur these three, so let me separate them cleanly.
A Rule 38 transfer is a one-sided request — you ask to move, and you wait for a vacancy, and you lose seniority.
A mutual transfer is when two officials in different units agree to swap places. Because nobody's net position changes for the department, mutuals can sometimes move faster — but you need a willing counterpart in exactly the place you want, holding exactly your grade, who wants exactly your station. That's rare, which is why most people fall back on Rule 38.
An administrative transfer is the department moving you for its own reasons — rotational policy, promotion, office needs. That one carries full transfer benefits and no seniority loss, because it isn't at your request.
Knowing which door you're walking through changes everything about what to expect.
What the waiting list really looks like
Let me set expectations, because this is where the disappointment usually comes from.
Your name sits on a waiting list ordered mainly by your date of application, adjusted for any priority ground you qualify for. You move up as people ahead of you get transferred, retire, or drop out — and you only actually move when a vacancy opens in your target unit and it falls within the permitted transfer quota for that period.
That last condition is why two people with identical grounds can have wildly different outcomes. If your target division rarely has vacancies in your cadre — a popular home circle everyone wants to get into — the queue barely moves, and a five or six year wait is normal. If you're heading somewhere with more churn, it can be quicker.
So do two things. First, apply as early as you possibly can, even if you don't intend to move for years, because the application date anchors your place. Second, follow up in writing periodically and keep proof of your application and its date — I've seen queues get quietly disturbed and the people with documented dates are the ones who get it corrected. Treat it as a long game you're managing, not a wish you filed once and forgot.
The honest advice
Rule 38 is a genuine, humane provision, and thousands of postal employees use it every year to put their families back together. But it rewards patience and planning, not hope.
Apply early. Understand that inter-circle is slow. Accept the seniority hit before you commit, not after. Keep your record clean so no vigilance flag freezes you. And check the current Directorate order for the exact minimum service and vacancy quota, because those numbers do change.
Do that, and Rule 38 becomes a tool you're using deliberately — not a lottery ticket you're praying on.