No system of 360-degree appraisal for civil servants: DoPT to CAT

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], October 31 : The Department of Personnel and Training has intimated to the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) that there exists no system of 360-degree appraisal for civil servants in the central government nor does any document of the same exist.
The revelation from the DoPT has come in the form of an affidavit filed this month before the Nainital Circuit Bench of CAT.
The matter surfaced when an Indian Forest Service officer from the Uttarakhand cadre, Sanjiv Chaturvedi had filed a petition before the CAT in December last year seeking all the documents related to his appraisal including the 360-degree appraisal, and appraisal by the Civil Services Board (CSB) headed by the Cabinet Secretary and by the Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC).
Chaturvedi said that on the basis of this appraisal, his case for the empanelment at the level of Joint Secretary and equivalent in the Government of India was rejected in November last year by the Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC).

The CAT issued notices to the Central Government in December last year. In its reply filed this month, the Department of Personnel has said, "The applicant is seeking records of 360-degree appraisal and these records do not exist".
It has further said that "no such system is there in the Government of India". The next date of hearing of the case is fixed on November 21.
The development becomes significant in view of the fact that earlier in 2017, the Personnel Department in a detailed written submission had stated before the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice on why the 360-degree appraisal system was introduced and how it was executed.

In that detailed submission the Department of Personnel had said, "Prior to the introduction of 360 Degree Appraisal, empanelment at Secretary and Additional Secretary level was done on the basis of assessment of Annual Confidential Reports (ACR) or Annual Performance Assessment Reports (APAR) only. Several problems were noticed in this system."
"After the Dev Dutt judgment, most officers were graded ten or near about, because the ACRs/APARs have to be conveyed to the officer concerned. Then there were also instances where different gradings were given by the Reporting, Reviewing and Accepting authorities, making it difficult to take a final view," it further said.

Subsequently, the Parliamentary Committee had said in its report, that it finds, "the present 360 degree appraisal system opaque, non-transparent and subjective as the concerns of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission have not been suitably addressed. Feedback in this process is obtained informally, making the process susceptible to being manipulated".
It had further recommended, "to take necessary steps to make the process of empanelment more objective, transparent and fair".