Serious note taken, last opportunity of 3 days given
‘Glaring mistakes in GAD order’
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 19: There is no end to the defiance of the repeated Government instructions regarding furnishing of details for processing of Annual Performance Reports (APRs) on SPARROW platform by 380 officers of the Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS) including those holding the posts of Director General, Director, Managing Director, Administrator, District Development Commissioner, Head of the Department, Special Secretary and Additional Secretary.
The non-cooperation on the part of such a large number of officers has been taken seriously at the highest level in the Government and now only three days time has been given for ensuring compliance failing which action will be taken against them under the relevant rules.
The most shocking aspect is that General Administration Department while issuing the list of defaulting officers has itself committed grave mistakes in the order.
The SPARROW (Smart Performance Appraisal Report Recording Online Window) was developed by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Government of India to make entire appraisal system online and accessible for review by the Ministries concerned. Later, the system was extended from IAS cadre to 13 other cadres including the Central Secretariat Services. However, this system is yet to be implemented in Jammu and Kashmir for want of necessary cooperation from the officers of J&K Administrative Service.
The explicit instructions regarding furnishing of requisite information for processing of APRs on SPARROW platform were issued to all the officers of the Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service vide Circular No.02-JK(GAD) of 2019 dated November 18, 2019.
These instructions were then reiterated vide Circular No.07-JK(GAD) dated February 24, 2020 and all the KAS officers were directed to submit their bio-data as per the prescribed proforma/ format.
“In order to enable the process go online, the data of officers is required to be customized with the Personal Information Management System (PIMS). Since various mandatory fields required for the purpose are not available with the General Administration Department, all the members of the J&K Administrative Service are directed to submit the information within a period of seven days”, the Government had mentioned in the circular dated February 24, 2020.
As there was no compliance to the instructions from majority of the KAS officers, the last date for submission of information was extended up to March 20, 2020. Shockingly, even this deadline has not been met with by large number of KAS officers and this is evident from the Government notification issued today by the General Administration Department.
“Despite the lapse of considerable time, the requisite information has not been received in respect of 358 officers while as 22 officers have provided incomplete particulars”, reads the GAD notification dated May 19 signed by Under Secretary Shuaib Mohammad Naikoo.
The notification further reads: “This non-serious response on the part of the officers has resulted into delay in the processing of APRs on the SPARROW platform and the same has been viewed seriously”.
Now, the Government has provided last opportunity to all these officers, who are accordingly directed to furnish the information on prescribed format within three days without fail to enable the SPARROW platform to go-live without any further delay.
However, the GAD has committed errors in the annexure appended with the notification. In respect of 358 officers who have not provided the requisite information, the title of the annexure reads: “Officers who have not incomplete information”. This clearly indicates how seriously the important subjects are being handled by the officers posted in the General Administration Department and even senior officers don’t properly supervise the working of their subordinates.
Late in the evening, the General Administration Department rectified the mistakes in the order and posted the corrected copy on the website.
The officers who have failed to ensure compliance to repeated instructions of the Government include those holding the posts of Director Generals, Administrative Secretary to the Government, Administrator, Special Secretary, Additional Secretary, Deputy Commissioner, Head of the Department, Director, Managing Director, Assistant Commissioner of Revenue, Programme Officer of the ICDS, Chief Executive Officer of the Tourism Development Authority, Additional Commissioner, Custodian General and Mission Directors etc.
The officers who have furnished incomplete information are holding the posts of Managing Director, Director, Joint Director, Joint Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of Tourism Development Authority etc.
“If this is the level of defiance on the part of the officers holding these posts how they would ensure compliance of the Government instructions from their subordinates remains a million dollar question”, official sources said.
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