Govt directives on furnishing APRs of ACRs, ADCs, SDMs, Tehsildars being disobeyed

*Further non-adherence to invite adverse comments
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 3: Notwithstanding the fact that Annual Performance Report (APR) gives true picture of general assessment of the work performed by every officer, the Government directives on this vital subject with regard to Assistant Commissioners of Revenue, Additional Deputy Commissioners, Sub-Divisional Magistrates and Tehsildars are being flouted by the Divisional Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners.
Now, taking serious note of this, the Government yesterday issued fresh order fixing timelines vide for strict compliance failing which adverse comments would be recorded.
The Government Vide Order No.1311-GAD of 2001 dated November 9, 2011 as amended from time to time, issued detailed instructions/procedures for writing up, custody and maintenance of the Annual Performance Reports (APRs) of all the Gazetted Officers.
The APRs of the officers of the level of Tehsildars, Assistant Commissioners, Sub-Divisional Magistrates/Additional Deputy Commissioners are maintained by the office of Financial Commissioner (Revenue) and Divisional Commissioners and all the Deputy Commissioners of the State are required to strictly adhere to the instructions laid down in Government Order of 2001.
However, it has been observed that these instructions are not adhered to, sources said, adding in some cases the officers to be reported upon do not submit their self assessment reports for the relevant period to the Initiating Officers within the stipulated period. In other cases, some of the Initiating Officers don’t initiate the APRs despite the same being submitted to them in time. In many cases, the reviewing and accepting authorities don’t report their remarks on the APRs within the stipulated period.
“Due to these factors and also because of casual manner in which the assessments are recorded, it becomes difficult to make an assessment about the performance of the officers”, sources said while disclosing that the non-compliance to the directives vis-à-vis furnishing APRs of large number of officers mostly dealing with the public directly has been viewed very seriously by the Governor’s Administration.
While impressing upon the Divisional Commissioners and all the Deputy Commissioners of the State to strictly adhere to the instructions laid down in the Government order of 2011, the Financial Commissioner Revenue, Parmod Jain has issued fresh instructions whereby timeline has been fixed for Initiating/Reviewing authorities, who have also been explicitly told that failure to ensure compliance on their part would result into adverse comments by their next superior authority at the time of writing up of their APRs.
As per the latest instructions, the APRs of the Additional Deputy Commissioners will be initiated by the Deputy Commissioners concerned on the basis of the personal data and self assessment given by the ADC concerned.
The same will be reviewed by the Divisional Commissioner concerned and then submitted to the Financial Commissioner (Revenue) for acceptance. The timelines would be May 15 for the Initiating Authority, May 30 for the Reviewing Authority and June 10 for the submission to the Accepting Authority.
As far as the Assistant Commissioners (Revenue), Sub-Divisional Magistrates and Collectors in the Revenue Department are concerned, their reports containing personal data and self assessment will be initiated by the Deputy Commissioner concerned, reviewed by the Divisional Commissioner and accepted by Financial Commissioner Revenue. The ACRs and SDMs and other Assistant Commissioners will submit their papers by May 10 to the Deputy Commissioner concerned and ensure submission to the FCR by June 10.
Similarly, the Assistant Commissioners /SDMs will initiate the APRs of the Tehsildars working under their control and these will be reviewed by the concerned Deputy Commissioner, who will ensure the submission of the same to the FCR. The Tehsildars will submit their APRs to the ACR/SDM along with work done details by April 30. The Deputy Commissioners will review by May 25 and submit the same to FCR by June 10.
If an officer to be reported upon fails to record self assessment within the prescribed time, the Initiating Officer will initiate the APRs after recording that the officer concerned failed to record his self assessment, read the instructions. The Divisional Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners have been explicitly told to ensure strict adherence to these instructions in future.

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