Wardroom Mess : At Sea – 2300 In Harbour – 2300 Gunroom Mess : At sea – 2200 In Harbour – 2230
(2) No refreshments will be served after these hours without the express permission of the Mess President.
(3) The gunroom mess shall be closed at the same time as the bar and the pantry.
Permission to keep the Gunroom mess open after these hours shall be granted only with the special authority of the Executive officer.
(4) The wardroom mess shall be closed as directed by the Captain.
2715. Blank.
2716. Limit to Wine Bills. The monetary limits of wine bills of officers shall be as prescribed from time to time by the Chief of the Naval Staff.
2717. Restrictions on Sale of Wines, Etc. (1) Except with the special sanction of the Captain, no wine, spirits or beer shall be sold to or exchanged with any person not belonging to the mess for which they were obtained, nor shall they be given away to any person except to a guest for consumption on board.
(2) Spirits on which duty has not been paid shall not be issued in bottle to any officer or other person. Duty paid spirits shall not be issued in bottle without the permission of the Captain.
(3) No subordinate officer under the age of 20 shall be allowed spirits either for his own consumption or for his guests; in special cases, subject to the prior consent of the Captain or of the Executive officer, this prohibition may be waived as regards guests.
(4) Gangway Wine Book. All wines, spirits, beer and tobacco (including cigars and cigarettes), of whatever description they may be, and for whatever mess or person, shall be entered in the Gangway Wine Book IN 454 (Form S 251) when received on board and also if disembarked. The book shall be kept by the Master-at-Arms, signed by him weekly, and inspected and initialed weekly by the Captain; it shall be produced, on request, to the officers of Customs, The date of return of shipping bills shall also be noted in the Gangways Wine Book inn red ink against the entry of the stores in question and the Captain shall be informed of any shipping bills outstanding when the book is initialed by him.
(5) A Gangway Wine Book need not be kept in ships and establishments which are not entitled to the privilege of duty-free mess and canteen stores.
(6) Stocks of Wine, etc. The stock of wine, spirits and beer allowed on board shall be limited strictly to the requirements of each mess. Before any of these articles is ordered by a gunroom mess, or obtained by them from other messes, a list of what is required, signed by the wine secretary shall be taken, together with the wine book, showing what has already been received or ordered by the mess, to the Captain for his approval and signature, and these permits shall afterwards be pasted into the wine book.
(7) Supplies of Wine etc. The Captain may sanction supplies of wine, etc. being received from messes at the risk of the wine merchant, provided it is to be paid form, as consumed by at least quarterly installments
2718. Payments of Mess Bills. (1) The Captain shall see that all mess and wine bills are settled monthly by each member. Payments must be made in cash or by cheques. A part from such payments by cheque, private bills or cheques shall not be received by or cashed from the mess, wine or other funds. Any pay, half pay, pension, retired pay, gratuity or other allowances payable to an officer are liable to be abated in order to meet mess bills or other liabilities in respect of his mess, or any similar debts or liabilities
(2) Mess Bills of Officers under Arrest. Mess Bills of officers under arrest, when they are not able to meet such bills from their own resources, may be claimed from CDA (Navy). For the procedure which the Captain shall follow when the amount has to be claimed from CDA (Navy). See Financial Regulations.
(3) Debts on Transfer to Another Ship. All officers should clear their bills before proceeding on transfer. If an officer is unable to do so, the Commanding officer shall after due investigation, direct the Supply Officer-in-Charge, Naval Pay Officer to recover the said amount from his individual Pay Account under intimation to the officer concerned. A cheque for the amount due to the mess shall be forwarded by the Naval Pay Officer to the Commanding officer to settle the mess dues. See section 28 (7) of the Navy Act, 1957 and SRO 355 dated 18 Dec 63 as amended by SRO 80 dated 14 Mar 73.
(4) The balance of pay due to a deserter shall not be used to reduce mess debts. Such balance of pay becomes the property of the State and cannot be appropriated for the liquidation of mess debts. If, in exceptional circumstances, it should be considered desirable to recover a mess debt from the proceeds of the sale of a deserter’s effects prior sanction must be obtained from the Government.
2719. Wine Book. (1) A wine book (IN 435) shall be kept and with the quarterly mess statement (IN 341) shall be produced whenever called for by competent authority.
(2) Inspection of Wine Books. The Captain shall inspect the wine books of the wardroom and gunroom messes weekly; but all officers, wine books and wine chit books shall be examined by him as often as he thinks fit. After each inspection of the books, the Captain shall initial them to show that he has examined them.
(3) When a ship ism inspected, a statement of the condition of the wine fund shall produced, with the wine and gangway books, to enable the inspecting officer to ascertain that the regulations relating to the wine accounts have been complied with.
(4) Balances. If a surplus over the amount of balance which is necessary for the efficient working of the wine fund has accumulated, it may be divided amongst the members in proportion to the amount of their individual interests or for any other legitimate purpose as decided by common consent. Distribution of this surplus may be made on such occasions as are approved by the Mess Committee.
2720. Mess and Wine Debts. (1) Before leaving a port, all debts for goods not at the risk of the merchant should be discharged if practicable. The Captain may approve of a reasonable amount of debt being left outstanding on receiving from the mess and undertaking to pay it off at the first reasonable opportunity, which undertaking the Captain shall see carried out. In such cases it must be understood that the Government whatever the Circumstances, will not be responsible for, nor contribute to satisfy, any claim which may be made for losses which may occur; and officers, for the protection of their interests, should make their own arrangements with the tradesmen. The Government will not be liable in any case for the loss of mess stock which has been taken on board.
(2) The payment of mess and wine debts shall be made in cash, or by money order or draft, or by cheque if a (wardroom mess fund) banking account is kept, and not by means of private cheques or bills of exchange unless such a course is specially sanctioned by the Captain. All such remittances and payments shall be verified by the auditing officers.
2721. Quarterly Accounts and Audit. (1) Instructions in Chapter 28, as applicable shall be complied with, in addition to the directions given in this chapter and orders issued by the Chief of the Naval Staff/ Administrative Authorities from time to time.
(2) The statements to be prepared by the Mess Committee shall be: -
(a) For wine accounts, on the forms provided in the wine book (IN 435), copies of the quarterly statement being also made on form IN 341 in duplicate.
(b) For the Mess accounts (which accounts shall include all the mess funds for which the members of the mess as a body are liable) on form IN 341 in duplicate. The cash account books of the various funds, including the cash account in the wine book (IN 435) shall also be signed by the auditing officers.
(3) The auditors of the wine accounts shall examine the account signed by the wine secretary showing the stock remaining in hand at the last stocktaking. Stock shall be taken jointly by the auditing officers, and the result, showing the stocks remaining in hand recorded in the wine accounts and signed by the auditing officers and the wine secretary. The auditors shall, after full enquiry, certify that, to the best of their belief, all instructions on the subject of the wine accounts have been duly complied with during the period under examination. The gangway book shall be produced at this audit, in order that the quantities credited to the messes in the wine books may be compared with those in the gangway book. The wine chit books shall also be produced and the quantities shown on the counterfoils compared with those entered in the wine book.
(4) Change of Wine Secretary. Whenever a change takes place in the wine secretary of a mess, an audit shall take place, the usual statement on form IN 341 being made out and signed by the auditing officers. Stock shall be taken jointly by the old and new wine secretaries, the result, showing the stocks remaining in hand on transfer of secretary ship, being recorded in the wine accounts and signed by both secretaries, before being produced to the auditing officers.
(5) Auditing officers shall always comply strictly with sub-regulations (4) and (5) of regulation 2814 and shall report to the Captain any breaches of sub-regulations (1) and (2) of regulation 2720 which come to their notice while carrying out the audit.
2722. Tenders. In the case of tenders commanded by officers below the rank of Lieutenant Commander, the Captain of the parent ship is responsible for ensuring that the foregoing instructions are duly carried out, subject to such special modifications in regard to details as may be approved by superior authority on account of the small number of officers in any particular mess.
2723. Command Messes. (1) The officer’s messes at Bombay, Visakhapatnam and Cochin are the Command, Messes of the respective Commands.
(2) All officers of the rank of Captain and below serving in the command in which a command mess is established shall be members of that mess unless they are already members of the officers mess of their own ship or establishment formed with the approval of the government. Officers borne on the books of a ship or establishment having a wardroom mess of its own may voluntarily become members of a command mess in addition to being members of the ship’s or establishment’s mess.
(3) Members of a command mess whether living in or living out of it, are required to pay subscription to the mess at the rates laid down by the mess committee.
(4) The President of a command mess will be the Commanding officer of the parent establishment on whose books the command staff is borne. The Vice President of the command mess will be nominated by the Administrative Authority. The President shall be responsible to the Administrative Authority for the discipline, administration and control of the mess and shall personally supervise all matters pertaining there to and issuing such orders as may be necessary for that purpose. The Vice President shall be responsible to the President in the matters set out above.