Jammu, Aug 6: The General Administration Department Friday constituted a committee of three members to revisit the Annual Performance Report (APR) rules.
“Sanction is hereby accorded to the constitution of a committee comprising Principal Secretary, Home Department, Commissioner Secretary, General Administration Department, and Secretary, Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs to revisit the APR guidelines notified vide government order No 1311-GAD of 2001 dated 09 November 2001,” reads an order issued by the Monitoring Section of the GAD.
This committee would submit its recommendations, keeping in consideration the existing guidelines in J&K and the Government of India (GoI) pattern on ACR rules within a period of one month.
An official said that the procedure of APR in GoI was simpler than J&K and that was why there was a need to revisit the APRs in J&K.
“The officer is not given an opportunity here in J&K if something is written against him or her in the APR. It is not disclosed to the concerned officer as it is kept a secret. Therefore, it often hits his or her promotional aspects when such officers get to know at the later stage,” the official said.
The official said, “On the contrary, in the GoI’s APR procedure, the officer is given an opportunity to represent himself in case something adverse is reported against him or her in the APR.”
With the revisiting of the APR rules, the official said that the officer concerned would get a chance to explain his or her position, in case, something reported against him or her in the APR as it would bring transparency and accountability.
“There is no penal procedure against the officer for not submitting the APRs on time,” the official said.