What is a DO letter?

It is short form of Demi Official Letter. It is written by the Ministers and senior officers of the State or Central Government to other officers, who are either one rank below or above them. In case, the addressee is a senior officer, he will be addressed as Sir, other wise his first name like ‘My Dear Rajesh’ will be mentioned in the beginning. It is written as a reminder after numerous official letters (Letter or Official Memorandum) fail to get a work expedited. It is also written to Members of Parliament, Ministers, Members of State Legislatures for furnishing the information asked by them. D.O. letters end with ‘My best regards’, ‘Happy New Year / Diwali’ etc. While in the official letters, the writing officers write as ‘Yours Faithfully’, the D.O. letter ends with ‘Yours Sincerely’. It has got a personal touch to the official work. Both the addressees - senior or junior, and ‘with regards’ at the conclusion of letter will be written in his own handwriting by the officer signing it. I remember a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Human Resource Development writing to his wife, who was also a Joint Secretary in other Ministry of the Government of India addressing his wife as ‘My Dear XXXXX’.

Besides the above major differences, while the official letters may be fully typed on plain paper, D.O. letters are typed on a special letter head called D.O. Pad in which the name and address of the Ministry / Department is printed on top right corner and the emblem of Government is embossed in Gold on the Right top corner. In official letters, the name and address of the addressee is generally mentioned on top, in D.O.Letter, the same is mentioned at the bottom on right side.

Drafting of a D.O. letter requires skills and command of the language as the facts of the whole case are not mentioned in this form of letter in chronological order. Still it required clarity on the issued involved and brevity of sentences, so as not to leave any important aspect of the matter as the purpose of writing a D.O. letter is that the addressee, generally Minister/senior officers, should be apprised of the issues involved without wasting their precious time.