Effect on modification/expuction of adverse remarks in the ACRs and up/down gradation of overall grading in the ACRs prior to 2008-09

Dear Comrades,

DOPT issued an order on 14/05/2009 regarding Annual Confidential Reports(ACR). By this order ACRs have been changed to APAR(Annual Performance Appraisal Report) and The full APAR including the overall grade and assessment of integrity shall becommunicated 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.It is also mentioned that "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 1st April 2009".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.

Now a clarification regarding the fate of earlier ACRs i.e.Prior to 2008 has been issued vide DOPT Memo No.21011/1/2005-Estt.(A) dated 06/01/2010.

Prior to that only adverse remarks in the ACR were required to be communicated for representation, if any. The then existing instructions further provided that the overall grading in the ACR should remain unchanged even after modification or expunction of the entire adverse remarks. It was left to the DPC to re-determine the overall grading if it considered that the expunction of such adverse remarks had so altered the quality of the ACR. The matter has been further considered and it has been decided that in those cases where the reckonable ACRs prior to the reporting period 2008-09 are to be considered in a future DPC on which the

adverse remarks of Reporting I Reviewing / Accepting Authorities have been expunged or modified by the Competent Authority, the "overall grading" in the ACR be kept blank for appropriate re-grading by the DPCs. The existing grading shall be blocked in such cases. It has also been decided that where the authority has upgraded / downgraded the overall grading without giving sufficient reasons, the DPC shall treat such an exercise as non-estlinvalid. General terms, such as "I agree or disagree with the Reporting Officer /Reviewing Officer" used by the Reviewing I Accepting Authority shall not be construed as sufficient reason for upgrading / downgrading the overall grading given by the Reporting Authority 1 Reviewing Authority. The proposals for the DPC where ACRs upto the reporting period 2007-08 will be taken into account should specifically bring out these guidelines.

Click here for DOPT order Dt.06/01/2010

Click here for DOPT order Dt.14/05/2009