Big news for government employees! Significant changes are underway for how annual performance is assessed, aiming to foster greater fairness and transparency in public administration. The traditional Annual Confidential Report (ACR) has been revamped and will now be known as the Annual Performance Assessment Report (APAR). Crucially, the entire APAR, including your overall grade and integrity assessment, will now be communicated directly to you. This marks a shift from the previous system where only adverse remarks were shared. To ensure accountability, individuals will have a 15-day window to raise any representations against entries or the final grading. This move is designed to provide public servants with a clear opportunity to understand their evaluations and improve performance, aligning with recent judicial pronouncements and administrative reform recommendations. These new directives will apply to performance appraisals from the reporting period of 2008-09 onwards.
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IMMEDIATE IMPORTANT
No. 22/12/2009-CS.I(CR)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
(Department of Personnel and Training)
Lok Nayak Bhawan, Khan Mkt.
New Delhi, $16^{\text {th }}$ September, 2009
Subject:- Maintenance and preparation of Annual Performance Appraisal Report of CSS Officers – communication of all entries for fairness and transparency in public administration.
The undersigned is directed to invite the attention of the Ministries/Departments to this Department’s O.M. No. 21011/1/2005Estt(A) (Pt-II) dated $14^{\text {th }}$ May, 2009 on the subject referred to above (copy enclosed for ready reference). CS Division has been receiving the APARs of CSS officers without complying with the guidelines laid down in the above referred O.M.
In view of the above all Ministries/ Departments are requested to ensure that necessary action as per the instructions in the said O.M. are completed before forwarding the APARs of CSS/CSSS officers from the reporting period 2008-09 onwards to this Department.
This circular may also be brought to the notice of all subordinate/attached offices of various Ministries/Departments for strict implementation of the above instructions. APAR’s of CSS officers for the years 2008-09 which have been sent to CS Division are being returned where found not in conformity with the above instructions for necessary action.
Rselth
(Dr. Reena Sethi)
UnderSecretary to the Government of India
Tele: 24629412
To
All Ministries/Departments of Government of India# No. 21011/1/2005-Estt (A) (Pt-II)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (Department of Personnel and Training)
North Block, New Delhi, $14^{\text {th }}$ May, 2009
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject:- Maintenance and preparation of Annual Performance Appraisal Reportscommunication of all entries for fairness and transparency in public administration.
The undersigned is directed to invite the attention of the Ministries/Departments to the existing provisions in regard to preparation and maintenance of Annual Confidential Reports which inter-alia provide that only adverse remarks should be communicated to the officer reported upon for representation, if any. The Supreme Court has held in their judgement dated 12.5.2008 in the case of Dev Dutt vs Union of India (Civil Appeal No. 7631 of 2002) that the object of writing the confidential report and making entries is to give an opportunity to the public servant to improve the performance. The $2^{\text {nd }}$ Administrative Reforms Commission in their $10^{\text {th }}$ Report has also recommended that the performance appraisal system for all services be made more consultative and transparent on the lines of the PAR of the All India Services.
2. Keeping in view the above position, the matter regarding communication of entries in the ACRs in the case of civil services under the Government of India has been further reviewed and the undersigned is directed to convey the following decisions of the Government:-
(i) The existing nomenclature of the Annual Confidential Report will be modified as Annual Performance Assessment Report (APAR).
(ii) The full APAR including the overall grade and assessment of integrity shall be communicated to the concerned officer after the Report is complete with the remarks of the Reviewing Officer and the Accepting Authority wherever such system is in vogue. Where Government servant has only one supervisory level above him as in the case of personal staff attached to officers, such communication shall be made after the reporting officer has completed the performance assessment.
(iii) The Section entrusted with the maintenance of APARs after its receipt shall disclose the same to the officer reported upon.
(iv) The concerned officer shall be given the opportunity to make any representation against the entries and the final grading given in the Report within a period of fifteen days from the date of receipt of the entries in the APAR. The representation shall be restricted to the specific factual observations contained in the report leading to assessment of the officer in terms of attributes, work output etc. While communicating the entries, it shall be made clear that in case no representation is received within the fifteen days, it shall be deemed that he/she has no representation to make. If the concerned APAR Section does not receive any information from the concerned officer on or before fifteen days from the date of disclosure, the APAR will be treated as final.(v) The new system of communicating the entries in the APAR shall be made applicable prospectively only with effect from the reporting period 2008-09 which is to be initiated after $1^{\text {st }}$ April 2009.
(vi) The competent authority for considering adverse remarks under the existing instructions may consider the representation, if necessary, in consultation with the reporting and/or reviewing officer and shall decide the matter objectively based on the material placed before him within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of the representation.
(vii) The competent authority after due consideration may reject the representation or may accept and modify the APAR accordingly. The decision of the competent authority and the final grading shall be communicated to the officer reported upon within fifteen days of receipt of the decision of the competent authority by the concerned APAR Section.
3. All Ministries/Departments are requested to bring to the notice of all the offices under them for strict implementation of the above instructions.
All Ministries/Departments of Government of India
Copy to:-
- Chief Secretaries of All State Governments/U.T.s
- The President’s Secretariat, New Delhi.
- The Prime Minister’s Office, New Delhi.
- The Cabinet Secretariat, New Delhi.
- The Rajya Sabha Secretariat.
- The Lok Sabha Secretariat.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, New Delhi.
- The Union Public Service Commission, New Delhi.
Copy also to:-
(a) All Attached offices under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
(b) Establishment Officer and Secretary, ACC (10 copies).
(c) All officers and Sections in the Department of Personnel and Training.
(d) Secretary, Staff Side, National Council (JCM), 13-C, Ferozeshah Road, New Delhi.
(e) All Staff Members of Departmental Council (JCM).
(f) All Staff members of the Departmental Council (JCM), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
(g) NIC (DoP\&T) for placing the Office Memorandum on the web-site of DoP\&T.
(h) Hindi Section for Hindi version of the O.M.