APAR :Annual Performance Appraisal Report

 

(i) What is APAR?

(ii) What is SPARROW

APAR online SPARROW

(iii) Timelines for submission of Self-appraisal, APAR writing by Reporting Officer, review by Reviewing officer, and lots more. 

What is the full form of APAR?

The full form of APAR is the Annual Performance Appraisal Report. APARs have replaced the erstwhile confidential reports entailing communication of the performance report to the officer reporting upon. 

What is APAR?

APAR is an important document providing the basic and vital inputs for assessing the performance of the Government servant annually called an Annual Performance Appraisal Report. So you have to write with due care in an objective and impartial manner.

1. ORU: Officer Reported Upon: Employee for whom APAR is written. Self-appraisal is submitted by certain cadres of employees whose work is not repetitive in nature.
2. Reporting Officer: The Immediate Officer who is empowered to write APAR for his subordinates
3. Reviewing Officer: The Officer who reviews the APAR written by Reporting Officer on the Employees and records his version and gives final numerical grading. He can either agree, disagree, or modify the remarks of the Reporting Officer.
4. Accepting Authority: In some cadres Accepting Authorities are prescribed whose remarks will be final on accepting the remarks of Reviewing Authority
   

   Important Ruling on APAR

   Transfer of Reporting and/or Reviewing Officer in the middle of the Reporting year:

   If an officer is transferred during the middle of the reporting year, he should immediately write the CRs of his subordinates in respect of the year, he should immediately write the CRs(now APARs) of his subordinates in respect of the year for the period up to date of his transfer, provided that the period is at least 6 months, and the reports should be submitted to the reviewing authority who will retain them in his custody and record his remarks in the reviewing portions in the last of the reports for the year, taking into account the reports for the previous portions of the year also, submitted to him by the transferred officers, at the time of their transfer.

   If the reviewing authority is transferred not simultaneously with Reporting Officer but after some time, he will hand over such reports to his successor and the successor will review the reports if he happens to heave 3 months of experience. Otherwise, the previous reviewing authority will review the reports at the end of the year.

   If however, a reviewing authority retires while there is no change in the Reporting Officer and the subsequent reviewing authority does not have 3 months experience of the work and conduct of the reportee, the reviewing portion will be left blank with a suitable note, recorded therein.

   This note can be recorded by the new reviewing authority who could not review the report because he did not have even 3 months of experience, or by the Reporting officer himself.

   [D.G, P& T., Letter No. 27-3/79-Disc. I dated the 11th September 1981] 

   Purpose of APAR

   The purpose of APAR is:
   1. Clearing probation
   2. Confirmation
   3. Promotion
   4. Selection: (i) Central Staffing Scheme,(ii) Deputation
   5. Sensitive posting
   6. Review under Fundamental Rule 56(j) (premature retirement)

    

   Integrity Column in APAR

   As per DOPT OM No. 2 1011/1/2010-Estt.A(it-II) dated 23. 07.2009, generally, the integrity column may be remarked as one of the three  mentioned below:

   (i)	Beyond doubt
   (ii)	Since the integrity of the officer is doubtful, a secret note is attached.
   	Not watched the officer`s work for sufficient time to form a definite judgment but nothing adverse has been reported to me about the officer.    What is SPARROW? SPARROW is an online system for performance appraisal of CSS/CSSS/CSCS officers maintained by the National Informatics Centre(NIC). The system aims to bring more transparency in the recording of performance appraisals, to eliminate loss of PARs during the transition, to ensure better monitoring and timely completion of PARs, and to provide easy and immediate access to the PARs by authorized stakeholders. The Officers can submit their annual Immovable Property Returns (IPRs) through SPARROW. In the Department of Posts, all APARs pertaining to Group ”A” officers (SSP Cadre onward) are processed in SPARROW.  SPARROW Features The system was launched on 01/04/2014. The responsibility to update the requisite details in respect of officers was passed on to the Employee Master Data (EMD) manager of the respective Cadre/Central Ministry or Department. SPARROW system generates auto-alerts in respect of the officers whose PARs are pending beyond the stipulated timeline.  SPARROW Abbreviations (i) PAR: Performance Appraisal Report (ii) MaA: Memorial against Assessment (iii) CR: Central Repository (iv) EMD: Employee Manager Details (v) SPOC: Single Point of Contact (vi) CCA: Cadre Controlling Authority (vii) DSC: Digital Signing Certificate (viii)ORU: Officer Reported Upon The following are additional readings that you can go through if you have time to afford it. SPARROW PPT The SPARROW Guidelines SPARROW Help guide SPARROW User Manual