Instructions for filling up APAR

INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILLING THE APARs FOR ALL POSTSGuidelines regarding filling up of APAR with numerical grading

i) The APAR is an important document. It provides the basic and vital inputs for assessing the performance of an officer and for his/her further advancement in his/her career. The officer reported upon, the Reporting Authority, the Reviewing Authority and the Accepting Authority should, therefore, undertake the duty of filling out the form with a high sense of responsibility.  The columns in the APAR should be filled with due care and attention and after devoting adequate time. Also please refer DoPT O.M. No.21011/1/2005-Estt(A)(Pt.II) dt. 23.07.2009 and 14.05.2009. For further details, DoPT website at www.performance.gov.in can be viewed.

ii) (a) Please also refer the Website of DoPT and the instructions contained in on preparation and maintenance of APAR for Central Civil Services. Section 2.11 and 5.2, 5.3 wherein the importance of writing/reviewing of the APAR within time frame which is also herewith attached. The right to write the APAR will lapse after that time frame.

(b) If any APAR, duly completed in all respects, of the previous financial year is not received in the concerned Custodian Office upto 31st December of the next financial year or received thereafter, that APAR will not be kept in the APAR Dossier of the concerned officer and the period of such missing APARs will be treated as NO APAR YEAR for that officer and in this regard necessary Certificate will be recorded by the concerned Custodian Office of APAR after 31st December of the next financial year without waiting the receipt of APAR of the previous financial year and that Certificate will be kept in the APAR Dossier of the concerned officer.

iii) Performance appraisal through APAR should be used as a tool for human resource development.  Reporting Officer should realise that the objective is to develop an officer so that he/she realizes his/her true potential. It is not meant to be a fault-finding process but the developmental one. The Reporting Officer and the Reviewing Officer should not shy away from reporting shortcomings in performance, attitudes or overall personality of the officer reported upon.

iv) Pen Picture of the official in about 70 words should include any special characteristics or any exceptional merits or capability justify his/her selection for special assignments or out of turn promotion. It may include comments on the overall qualities of the officer including areas of strengths and lesser strength or weaknesses.

v) Numerical grading are to be awarded by reporting and reviewing authorities for the quality of work output, personal attributes and functional competence of the officer reported upon. These should be on a scale of 1-10, where I refers to the lowest grade and 10 to the highest. The guidelines given in Annexure-I shall be kept in mind while awarding numerical gradings. It is expected that any grading of 1 or 2 (against work output or attributes or overall grade) would be adequately justified in the pen-picture by way of specific failures and similarly, any grade of 9 or 10 would be justified with respect to specific accomplishments. Grades of 1-2 or 9-10 are expected to be rare occurrences and hence the need to justify them. In awarding a numerical grade the reporting and reviewing authorities should rate the official against a larger population of his/her peers that may be currently working under them.

vi) APARs graded between 8 and 10 will be rated as ‘outstanding’ and will be given a score of 9 for the purpose of calculating average scores for empanelment/ promotion.

vii) APARs graded between 6 and short of 8 will be rated as ‘very good’ and will be given a score of 7.

viii) APARs graded between 4 and 6 short of 6 will be rated as ‘good’ and given a score of 5.

ix) APARs graded below 4 will be given a score of zero.

x) All attributes under Section 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 carry equal weightage in their respective sections.

Cutting and over writing to be avoided, if unavoidable to be initiated.

xi) In case of any aptitude not applicable in 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, a remarks to this effect may be given and no numbering be assessed.

xii) Reporting Officer shall prior to the commencement of the reporting year i.e. April, fix assignments and tasks with targets and objectives for the reported officer in consultation with each of the officers with respect to whom he is required to report upon. Performance appraisal should be a joint exercise between the officer reported upon and the Reporting Officer.

xiii) Although performance appraisal is a year-end exercise, in order that it may be a tool for human resource development, the Reporting Officer and the officer reported upon should meet during the course of the year at regular intervals to review the performance and take necessary corrective steps, as warranted.

xiv) Some posts of the same rank may be more exerting than others. The degree of stress and strain in any post may also vary from time to time. These facts should be borne in mind during appraisal and should be commented upon appropriately.

xv) From the financial year 2012-2013, Annual Medical Examination in the prescribed proforma as given in Annexure-III should be got conducted from the approved Medical Centres/Hospitals as given in Annexure-II by Group ‘A’ officers, who have attained the age of 40 years and above, and the summary report of medical examination in the prescribed proforma as given in Annexure-III should be attached with the APAR Form. The cost of the medical examination will be got reimbursed by the officer from his concerned office as per CGHS Rules and the latest circulars in this regard.

xvi) NOTE : The following procedure should be followed in filling up the column relating to Integrity :

1. If the Official’s integrity is beyond doubt, it may be so stated.
2. If there is any doubt or suspicion, the column should be left blank and action taken as under :

a)      A separate secret note should be recorded and followed up. A copy of the note should also be sent together with the Performance Assessment Report to the next superior officer who will ensure that the follow up action is taken expeditiously. Where it is not possible either to certify the integrity or to record the secret note, the Reporting Officer should state either that he had not watched the officer’s work for sufficient time to form a definite judgment or that he has heard nothing against the officer, as the case may be.

b)      If, as a result of the follow up action, the doubt or suspicions are cleared, the officer’s integrity should be certified and an entry made accordingly in the Performance Assessment Report.

c)       If the doubts or suspicions are confirmed the fact should also be recorded and duly communicated to the officer concerned.

d)      If as a result of the follow up action, the doubts or suspicions are neither cleared nor confirmed, the officer’s conduct should be watched for a further period and thereafter action taken as indicated at (b) and (c) above.

xvii) Where a Reporting officer/Reviewing officer retires, he may be allowed to give the report on his subordinates within one month of retirement.

xviii) Atleast 3 months experience of Supervising the work and conduct of Govt. servant reported upon should be there before assessing APAR.

xix) If the Reporting/Review officer is under suspension when the annual APAR has become due to be written/reviewed, it may be written/reviewed within 2 months from the date of his having placed on suspension or one month from the date on which the report was due, whichever is later.

xx) Where an officer has taken Earned Leave for a period of more than 15 days, the total period spent on leave can be deducted from the total period spent on any post, for the purposes of computing the period of 3 months which is relevant for writing of entries in the APAR.  Leave taken for short term duration need not be treated as relevant for the purpose.

xxi) After the expiry of the first week of the time-schedule (15th April), if the self appraisal is not received by that time, Reporting Officer should take it upon himself to remind the officer to be reported upon in writing, asking him to submit his self-appraisal. If no self-appraisal is received by the stipulated date, the reporting officer can obtain another blank APAR form and proceed to write the report on the basis of his experience of the work and conduct of the officer reported upon. While doing so, he can also point out the failure of the officer reported upon to submit his self-appraisal within the stipulated time.

xxii) If the APAR is not initiated by the Reporting Officer for any reason beyond 30th June of the year in which financial year ended, he shall forfeit his right to enter any remarks in the APAR of the officer reported upon and he shall submit all APAR held by him for reporting to the reviewing officer on the next working day.

xxiii) The controlling officer has been directed to call for explanation of the concerned officers for not having perform the public duty of not writing the APAR within due date and his absence of justification direct that a written warning for delay in completing the APAR be placed in the APAR folder of the defaulting officer concerned.

xxiv) The full APAR including the overall grades 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 a system is in vogue.

xxv) The assessment in Part-IV is descriptive only and no grading is to be provided.

Time schedule for preparation/completion of APAR

(Reporting year- Financial year)

S.No.	Activity	Date by which to be completed
1	Distribution of blank APAR forms to all concerned (i.e., to officer to be reported upon where self-appraisal has to be given and to reporting officers where self-appraisal is not to be given)	31st March. (This may be completed even a week earlier).
2.	Submission of self-appraisal to reporting officer by officer to be reported upon (where applicable).	15th April.
3.	Submission of report by reporting officer to reviewing officer	30th June
4.	Report to be completed by Reviewing Officer and to be sent to Administration or CR Section/Cell or accepting authority, wherever provided.	31st July
5.	Appraisal by accepting authority, wherever provided	31st August
6.	(a) Disclosure to the officer reported upon where there is no accepting authority	01st September
	(b) Disclosure to the officer reported upon where there is accepting authority	15th September
7.	Receipt of representation, if any, on APAR	15 days from the date of receipt of communication
8.	Forwarding of representations to the competent authority
	(a) where there is no accepting authority for APAR	21st September
	(b) where there is accepting authority for APAR	06th October
9.	Disposal of representation by the competent authority	Within one month from the date of receipt of representation.
10.	Communication of the decision of the competent authority on the representation by the APAR Cell	15th November
11.	End of entire APAR process, after which the APAR will be finally taken on record	30th November