Online filing system for IAS officer performance reports developed by DoPT

A software has been developed by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) for the online filing of performance reports of the IAS officers and the government is planning to start such a facility by April this year.

The move is aimed at reducing bureaucratic hurdles and delays which take place in processing the performance reports of over 4,700 IAS officers every year, a DoPT official said.

According to rules, an Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR) assessing the performance, character, conduct and qualities of an IAS officer shall be written for each financial year.

It acts as an important document to provide basic and vital inputs for further development of an officer in terms of his or her career progressions.

Until now, there was no system for filing of online appraisal reports.

A meeting was called on January 22 by the DoPT Secretary with the Principal Secretaries or Secretaries of General Administration Department or Department of Personnel of State Governments or Union Territories to demonstrate the software for online filing of APAR by IAS officers and also to assess the progress made by the states in issuing Digital Signature Certificate (DSCs) to its officers.

It was decided to examine and take corrective action against the possible ways in which the system may not function.

"States need to expedite the process of issuing DSCs so that officers can test its (system) compatibility with the system before using it in April 2014," according to minutes of the meeting.

The officers would be given the option to delegate the recording of the PAR to their PA/PS who would then record the same in the PAR after accessing the system through their e-mail ID which too can be generated immediately.

"The privilege of sending the PAR to the next reporting authority, however, would only be with the officer himself after authentication with his DSC," it said.

The National Informatics Centre (NIC) will organise a technical workshop for the officers of the states from February 24 to March 8, 2014.

The NIC would release the eAPAR URL with data for the trial run for two pilot states during March 10 to March 14.