RTI tiurns ACR's to APAR's

[karira]

RTI turns ACRs into APARs


After ACRs (Annual Confidential Reports), were ordered to be disclosed by the Gujarat Information Commission (GIC), under RTI, instead of the expected jubilation amongst ranks, most officers' preferred to wait, speculating on the government's reaction.

The reaction was quite unexpected.The Centre's Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), notified the 'All India Services (Performance Appraisal Report) Rules, 2007'. Thereby, ACRs are now APARs (Annual Performance Appraisal Report), and IAS, IPS, IFS officers, across the country would have full access to them.

DoPT was earlier against disclosing ACRs. Their stand was supported by the Central Information Commission (CIC). DoPT's hand was forced by GIC's order.Government officers are after all nothing but public servants.

While as citizens first, Babus find the door open to their right to know how they have been assessed, however it has its flip side too. Now the citizen too can learn how efficient these public servants are and who assessed them. Maybe Babus seeking their ACRs at GIC did not foresee this, but this possibility cannot be ignored. The wall of secrecy has now been brought down. Babus in Gujarat have unwittingly done a favour to their brethren across the country.

Times of India, Ahmedabad
12.04.2007

Comments:
This is real good decision in favour of citizens.
Now we will know who works and who doesn't

[apaul]

ACR's are supposed to reflect how the person has performed over a period of time. but, i'm sure, it can be equally appreciated that an ACR may not be all that sacrosanct...after all, the one who is writting an ACR/Appraisal is a human being...an element of subjectivity would creep in....

[karira]

One of the IC's in CIC has ruled that ACR's are out of bounds as far as the RTI Act is concerned:

Commission’s Decision:
3. In a number of decisions, this Commission has ordered that the proceedings of DPCs, except the inputs from ACRs, should be put in public domain so as to ensure transparency and objectivity in the selection process. As regards ACRs, it contains remarks made by the superior officers about assessed officials, the disclosure of which is not in public interest. Accordingly, the CPIO is directed to disclose the DPC’s proceedings after due application of section 10(1) of the Act so as to withhold the inputs based on ACRs. The disclosure of ACRs is however barred u/s 8 (1) (j) of the Act.

Full decision can be viewed at:

http://cic.gov.in/CIC-Orders/Decision_08062007_04.pdf

[mpai]

Originally Posted by karira

RTI turns ACRs into APARs

The reaction was quite unexpected.The Centre's Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), notified the 'All India Services (Performance Appraisal Report) Rules, 2007'. Thereby, ACRs are now APARs (Annual Performance Appraisal Report), and IAS, IPS, IFS officers, across the country would have full access to them.

The notification is available at the following link. Please note its a large 61 page pdf file

http://persmin.nic.in/Acts_Rules/AIS/IAS_PAR.pdf

Manoj

[kushal]

for the records, I am attaching it with the posts.
It is only restricted to All India Service as of now which only include IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service and that does not cover, Indian revenue Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Railway Services (The Central Services).

[karira]

Kushal,

Just for my General Knowledge only, can you please let me know the following: (or any other officer can help with the answers):

1. Can a officer view his own ACR/APAR under normal rules ?
How often is he allowed to do that ?
Any charges to be paid by the officer for this ?
Do superior officers "look down" upon juniors who want to see
their own ACR's ?

2. What is the penalty/action on a superior officer for:
Not submitting ACR's on time ?
Not submitting ACR's at all ?
Is it obligatory for a superior officer to complete ACR ?
(I mean suppose he says he will not write the ACR at all)

3. What happens if the superior officer is transferred and a new person
comes in, who does not have any clue about the performance of a
subordinate ? Does the new officer write the ACR ?

4. Does the Government collect and publish any data about All India
Service officers indicating how many ACR's submitted on time, how
many pending, reasons for pending, action taken for not submitting
ACR ? Number of ACR's which got "lost", etc.

[karira]

Reference my above post, Kushal, I read the pdf file and some questions I raised are already answered.

[karira]

RTI queries finally get govt cracking</ARTTITLE>

14 Jun, 2007 l 0221 hrs ISTlViju B/TIMES NEWS NETWORK

MUMBAI: Persistent queries under the Right to Information Act on the pending Annual Confidential Report of IAS officers posted in Maharashtra have forced the government to act.

Under Rule 5(1), 5(2) of the IAS Rules (Confidential Report), 1970, the ACRs have to be filed before July every year failing which it will be deemed as dereliction of duty on the part of the officers. The ACRs of IAS officers also assess the performance of bureaucrats for future promotions and transfers.

An RTI query filed by activist Shailesh Gandhi last year revealed that more than 2,000 ACRs of IAS officers were pending across the country. In Maharashtra alone, the ACRs of 228 IAS officers were not received by the government while only 92 were completed last year.

"The backlog was nearly 71% and was a sad reflection on the state bureaucracy," Gandhi said. After he got this response last November, he filed another query this year asking for the latest ACR figures.

"Within a span of six months, the government has completed 210 ACRs. Also, only 30% of the backlog for last year remains," Gandhi said. Similarly, for 2005, the backlog has come down from 41.6% to 25% in six months.

Earlier, Gandhi's RTI query and first appeal were rejected as the information sought was of a personal nature. Gandhi then went for a second appeal with the state information commission, which directed that the details be released. (TOI had reported the issue last year).

"The postings were done on the basis of the recommendations of ministers, and ACRs were not even filed on time because it did not hold any value. But RTI has at least made the process to begin once more," an activist said.

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RTI queries finally get govt cracking-Mumbai-Cities-The Times of India

[karira]

Kushal,

The above news report answers some of my questions !
But, it also shows that all is not well with the appraisal system in the Government.

[mpai]

Originally Posted by karira

Kushal,
But, it also shows that all is not well with the appraisal system in the Government.

Well with the RTI Act in its places and Crusaders like Shailesh Gandhi, after the Govt. seeking such info, including letters from MPs/MLAs who demand their favourites be promoted, transfer stopped etc. would expose these power mongers and let the hardworking IAS officers breath freely.

Manoj

[kushal]

1. ACR are to be written by an Group 'A' Officer every year in the month of March and submitted by the month of 'April'.
2. If the officer do not fill in the 'self appraisal' part of the ACR, it is deemed to be filled in and the reporting officer should complete the ACR without the self appraisal.
3. The ACR is not shown to Officer been reported upon except for any adverse entry made which invariably need to be communicated to the officer and the Officer can then 'represent' against the adverse entry.
4. The reporting officer need to grade the officer in the benchmark from Adverse, Average, good, very good, Outstanding. The catch lies here, if the grading is adverse or average, it had to be communicated to the officer, however, Good, Very Good and Outstanding need not. Now the benchmark for the promotion from say 'Junior Administrative Grade' to 'Senior Administrative Grade', one need to have a minimum of 'Very Good'. Thus an Officer getting 'Good' grade will always remain at disadvantage and would also never know this.
5. Now, practically, ACR may remain not filled by reporting officer for long, but during promotion, it invariably gets filled up before being put up before DPC (Departmental Promotion Committee)
6. If the reporting Officer (Boss) gets transferred or the Officer himself gets transferred and if the period of report is less than 3 months, the ACR need not be filled and only remark of 'less than 3 months' is written. This way the reporting officer gets enough time to know the officer been reported upon.
7. The ACR can never get lost, and if lost; proper Departmental Disciplinary action need to be initiated under the conduct Rules.

[karira]

ACR contents can be disclosed with safeguards: CIC

New Delhi:: The Central Information Commission has ruled that information contained in the Annual Confidential Report (ACR) can be revealed with certain safeguards. Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah held that though disclosure of ACRs is exempted under the provisions of RTI Act, information relating to categorisation in terms of Departmental Promotion Committee proceedings can be disclosed .

Appellant Sharda Meshram had sought information about minutes of the DPC proceedings and categorisation of the ACRs from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to protect her service prospects in the light of her having been superceded in seniority. The DoPT refused to provide the information on the grounds that contents of the ACR are exempted from disclosure. The panel held that as far as the proceedings of the DPCs were concerned, disclosure will bring in fairness and neutrality and will make the system more accountable.

Regarding the ACRs, the panel held that though the disclosure of ACRs was exempted under section 8(2) of the RTI Act, the appellant in present case had only asked for information limited to categorisation in terms of DPC proceedings. The only conceivable exemption under the provisions could be the fiduciary relationship of the department with the members of the DPC or invasion of privacy of the persons whose names were considered by the DPC.

IndianExpress.com :: ACR contents can be disclosed with safeguards: CIC

[karira]

Please also see the following thread:

Disclosures of Annual Confidential Reports (ACR) comes under Official Secret Act

[vashisthvivek]

Originally Posted by karira

RTI turns ACRs into APARs


After ACRs (Annual Confidential Reports), were ordered to be disclosed by the Gujarat Information Commission (GIC), under RTI, instead of the expected jubilation amongst ranks, most officers' preferred to wait, speculating on the government's reaction.

The reaction was quite unexpected.The Centre's Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), notified the 'All India Services (Performance Appraisal Report) Rules, 2007'. Thereby, ACRs are now APARs (Annual Performance Appraisal Report), and IAS, IPS, IFS officers, across the country would have full access to them.

DoPT was earlier against disclosing ACRs. Their stand was supported by the Central Information Commission (CIC). DoPT's hand was forced by GIC's order.Government officers are after all nothing but public servants.

While as citizens first, Officers find the door open to their right to know how they have been assessed, however it has its flip side too. Now the citizen too can learn how efficient these public servants are and who assessed them. Maybe Officers seeking their ACRs at GIC did not foresee this, but this possibility cannot be ignored. The wall of secrecy has now been brought down. Officers in Gujarat have unwittingly done a favour to their brethren across the country.

Times of India, Ahmedabad
12.04.2007

Comments:
This is real good decision in favour of citizens.
Now we will know who works and who doesn't

Can you please provide me the decision of the Gujrat Information Commission as referred in your above post?

[karira]

Vshishthvivek,

I tried : GIC - Gujarat Information Commission

But most of the decisions are in Gujarati, which I cannot read.
Can you please take help of someone speaking Gujarati and check decisions made before 12 Apr 2007 (since there is no search function on the website of GSIC)

[vashisthvivek]

Dear Karia.
Thanks for the effort. I also don't know Gujrati. Since, I reside at Shimla, there is nobody around, who knows Gujrati. If, by chance, you found the decision, kindly also send me.
Thanks again.

[adil85]

Originally Posted by karira

RTI turns ACRs into APARs


After ACRs (Annual Confidential Reports), were ordered to be disclosed by the Gujarat Information Commission (GIC), under RTI, instead of the expected jubilation amongst ranks, most officers' preferred to wait, speculating on the government's reaction.

The reaction was quite unexpected.The Centre's Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), notified the 'All India Services (Performance Appraisal Report) Rules, 2007'. Thereby, ACRs are now APARs (Annual Performance Appraisal Report), and IAS, IPS, IFS officers, across the country would have full access to them.

DoPT was earlier against disclosing ACRs. Their stand was supported by the Central Information Commission (CIC). DoPT's hand was forced by GIC's order.Government officers are after all nothing but public servants.

While as citizens first, Officers find the door open to their right to know how they have been assessed, however it has its flip side too. Now the citizen too can learn how efficient these public servants are and who assessed them. Maybe Officers seeking their ACRs at GIC did not foresee this, but this possibility cannot be ignored. The wall of secrecy has now been brought down. Officers in Gujarat have unwittingly done a favour to their brethren across the country.

Times of India, Ahmedabad
12.04.2007

Comments:
This is real good decision in favour of citizens.
Now we will know who works and who doesn't

Dear Friend
Could you please provide the reference of trhe decision of CIC Gujrat about ACR..I am unable tofind the same.As I am not versed with Gujrati language I am unable to find it in English. Kindly favour me with the decision.
adil85......................