What is Noting and Drafting?

What does noting and drafting mean?

As per Swamy's book on Establishment and Administration:

NOTING:

Noting is a process to prepare a note and a note has been defined as:

(a) Notes are written remarks recorded on a paper under consideration to facilitate its disposal.

(b) It should consist of a precis of previous paper, the statement or analysis of the question or questions requiring decision, suggestions regarding the course of action and final orders passed thereon.

(c) A note recorded by a Minister, the Prime Minister, the Vice-President or the President should be referred to as a "Minute".

(d) The name, designation and where necessary, the telephone number of the officer signing a note should invariably be typed or stamped with a rubber stamp below the signature which should be dated. In recording the date, the month and the year should also be indicated.

DRAFTING:

A draft is a rough sketch of a communication to be issued after approval of the officer concerned. And drafting is the process of preparing this rough sketch.

Now let's understand with a practical example considering that you are a novice in this field of administrative work.

Lets take a case wherein an application from a newly recruited employee has been received and she is seeking extension of her joining date. Having received this application what should be the further course of action. Now don’t say that “Boss को एप्लीकेशन दिखा के पूछ लेते हैं कि करना क्या है इसका”. असल मे होता यही है पर ये ऑफिस है ना कि घर कि बार बार Boss के पास जाके पूछ लिये. There’s a proper procedure. This application is put up in a file and the contents are brought to the notice of the authorities in a brief manner. Read further for a demonstration:

Suppose the following application is received from a newly recruited employee namely Ms. Anastasia Steele who has been appointed in a company named Grey Enterprises Holdings Inc.

After receipt of this application, it is attached in a file on the right side as illustrated below.

Thereafter, an office note or a note sheet is prepared for perusal of the decision making authorities and for seeking decision in this regard (This process of preparing an office note or a note sheet is called as NOTING). The sample office note is given below.

After preparing the note, it is attached on a file on left side as given below:

Now the authorities will write their recommendations and decisions as given below:

After final decision of the Competent Authority, further action is taken. In this case, the approval of the request by Ms. Steele will be communicated to her. For this, a draft letter is prepared for signature of the authorised officer (This process of preparing a draft letter is called as DRAFTING) :