New performance appraisal system for officers soon: CM

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 10

The state government has decided to overhaul the annual performance appraisal report (APAR) system for Class I and II officers, including Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today said that the reforms were aimed at enhancing accountability and transparency by directly linking the officer’s evaluation to his work output. “From now on, all officers, including administrative secretaries and deputy commissioners posted in districts, will be evaluated solely on their performance for their APARs. Under the new system, performance appraisal would be directly linked to the work output of all officers,” the Chief Minister said.

Will have negative marking

• All officers, including administrative secretaries and deputy commissioners posted in districts, will be evaluated solely on their performance for their APARs
• The traditional descriptive categories such as “outstanding”, “very good”, “good” and “average” will be replaced with a numerical grading scale
• The officers will be assessed based on three key indicators — accomplishment of their annual work plan, work-related attributes and their personal and functional attributes
• The reforms will also introduce negative marking, with officers potentially losing two points from their overall grade, on a scale of 1-10, for non-compliance of government orders or advisories

Under the new evaluation system, the traditional descriptive categories such as “outstanding”, “very good”, “good” and “average” would be replaced with a numerical grading scale. The officers would be assessed based on three key indicators — accomplishment of their annual work plan, work-related attributes and their personal and functional attributes. The reform would also introduce negative marking, with officers potentially losing two points from their overall grade, on a scale of 1-10, for non-compliance of government orders or advisories.

The Chief Minister said that transparency was a key feature of the proposed system and the APAR process would now be entirely online for streamlining operations and enforcing the December 31 deadline for submissions. “These changes have been designed to ensure a fair and objective evaluation process, particularly for field-level officers whose performance will be closely tied to meeting quantitative targets. Higher management officers will continue to be assessed on qualitative aspects and personal attributes,” he added.

Sukhu said that these reforms were a crucial step towards strengthening governance and enhancing accountability within the state administration.