Government of West Bengal
Finance Department
Audit Branch
No. 5683-F(Y)/WB Kolkata, the 18th November, 2015
Sub: Revision of Reporting, Reviewing and Accepting Authorities for Self Appraisal Report (SAR) of WBA&AS Officers & Issue of guidelines thereof.
MEMORANDUM
‘Self Appraisal Report’ was introduced by Finance Department for the officers belonging to the cadre of West Bengal Audit & Accounts Service with effect from Reporting Year 2007-2008 vide Memorandum No. 3939-F, dated 17th May, 2007. Since then number of posts borne in the cadre of West Bengal Audit & Accounts Service have increased manifold and several new types of posts have been created. Significant changes have also taken place in the field of financial administration of the government with the introduction of Financial Advisor system in all departments. Consequently, officers belonging to West Bengal Audit & Accounts Service have been posted as Financial Advisor, Deputy Financial Advisor & Accounts Officer in different departmental clusters.
After careful consideration of the matter the following revised guidelines are being issued in partial modification of earlier guidelines issued by this department from time to time for necessary compliance herein after:
1. Self Appraisal Reports shall be drawn up separately for each Reporting Year beginning on 1st April and ending on 31st March of next year. When more than one Self Appraisal Reports are drawn on an Officer during the course of a Reporting Year, each Self Appraisal Reports shall indicate the period to which it relates.
2. The Officer Reported upon shall fill in the personal data in Part – I A & Part-II of the Specified format with his/ her full signature and the post(s) held by him/ her during the period under report and submit the Self Appraisal Report to the Reporting Officer within one month from the close of the Reporting Year i.e., by the 30th April without fail under intimation to WBA&AS Cell of Group T, Finance Department. Officer concerned shall also make an online entry in the SRMS Portal of WBA&AS Officers in respect of submission of SAR to Reporting Officer for which separate guidelines will be issued later on.
3. The officer reported upon shall get the “Appraisal of Attendance” (Part-I B) prepared and signed by the Officer-in-Charge of Establishment Section of the Office/ Head of Office or any other officer authorized by Head of the Office for maintaining the attendance in the office or by Reporting Officer himself.
4. Name of the officer reported upon in the Self Appraisal Reports is often written in abbreviated form instead of showing the full name. In such cases, it becomes difficult to identify the Officer and to place the Self Appraisal Report in the appropriate folder, resulting in mixing up with Self Appraisal Reports of other officers having the same abbreviated name. Therefore, full name along with appropriate Designation of the officer reported upon must be mentioned clearly in the Self Appraisal Report.
5. The officer reported upon shall have to state brief and specific description of duties as has been allotted to him/ her by the Head of Office in Para 1 of Part -II. Ideally this should be in bullet form not exceeding 100 words. The Achievements in Para 2 of Part-II shall be specific and objective in nature and not general comments. Comparative figures with respect to last year or Year-on-Year basis may be mentioned. Achievements should be quantified to the best possible extent. Any special initiative, achievement or performance should be mentioned with specific details.
6. In terms of Finance Department Memo No. 9135-F dt. 10.09.2002, the WBA&AS Officers will also additionally have to score 70% on attendance to become eligible for appointment in higher pay scales, both functional and non-functional and marking on attendance in their cases shall be as per the format prescribed in Finance Department’s aforesaid Memorandum dated 10-09-2002. “Appraisal of Attendance” (Part-I B) shall be prepared and signed by the Officer-in-Charge of Establishment Section of the Office/ Head of Office or any other officer authorized by Head of the Office for maintaining the attendance in the office or by Reporting Officer himself.
7. The Govt. has specified the designation of the Reporting Officer, Reviewing Officer and Accepting Authority in respect of all the Officers Reported upon as per enclosed Schedule.
8. Part – III requires the Reporting Authority to comment on Part – II as filled up by the officer reported upon, and specifically state whether he/ she agrees with the responses in relation to the accomplishments. In case of disagreement the reporting authority should highlight the specific portions with which he/she is unable to agree and the reasons for such disagreement.
9. INTEGRITY
The following instructions are issued in regard to filling the column on “Integrity”:
a) Supervisory Officers should maintain a confidential diary in which instances creating suspicion about the integrity of an officer reported upon should be noted from time to time and the actions to verify the truth of such suspicions should be taken expeditiously by making confidential enquiries departmentally or by referring the matter to the Vigilance Commission. At the time of recording the Confidential Report, this diary should be consulted and the material in it to be utilised for filling in the column on “integrity”.
b) If some adverse material is recorded in the column specified for “integrity” then the Confidential Report should accompany evidence of the adverse comments.
c) The column of “integrity” should not be filled up by the remarks “Average” or “Below Average” since they are of ambiguous nature and said column also should not be left blank.
10. The Reporting Officer shall record his views in Part-III of the specified format and transmit the same to the Reviewing Officer by the 30th May next, preserving a photocopy at his end. Reporting Officers shall make a pen picture of the qualities and personality of the officer reported upon in Point no. [ C ] 3 of Part-III. Reporting Officer is required to state at Point No.4 under Para (C) of Part III (Annexure- I) whether he agrees with the “Appraisal of Attendance” of the officer concerned as noted in the (Part-I B). In Point No. C (5) Overall Grading covering all aspects of performance of the officer reported upon shall be recorded under “Overall Grading” amongst ‘Outstanding’, ‘Very Good’, ‘Good’, ‘Average’, and ‘Below Average’.
11. After recording comments in Part-IV, the Reviewing Officer shall transmit the Confidential Reports to the Secretary/ Special Secretary, Group – T, (WBA&AS Cell), Finance Department by 30th June next for placing it to the Accepting Authority.
12. In case, where the Reviewing Officer is also the Accepting Officer, the Confidential Report shall be sent to the Secretary/ Special Secretary, Group – T (WBA&AS Cell), Finance Department by 30th June next.
13. In case of all the WBA&AS officers, Accepting Officer of Confidential Report will be as under:
a) Principal Secretary, Finance Department will be Accepting Officer for the Officers belonging to scale no. 18 & 19 (Pre-revised ROPA’98) ,and
b) Secretary/ Additional/ Special Secretary in charge of Group ‘T” (WBA&AS Cell) of Audit Branch will be Accepting Officer for the Officers belonging to scale no. 16 & 17 (Pre-revised ROPA’98).
14. The Group – T (WBA&AS Cell), Finance Department shall be the custodian of the Confidential Reports and shall record and review the status of Confidential Reports of all service members in order to ensure acceptance of same by the Finance Department within 31st July next.
15. Within a Reporting Year a Confidential Report may be drawn for fractional period when either the Reporting Officer or the Officer Reported Upon relinquishes the charge of the post. In both occasions the Officer Reported upon shall fill in the data & submit the Report to the Reporting Officer at the time of relinquishment of the charge of the post or immediately thereafter.
a. Where the Reporting Authority has seen but the Reviewing Authority has not seen the performance of the officer reported upon for at least three (03) months during the period for which Confidential Report is to be written the Reporting Authority shall write the Confidential Report of any such officer and forward it to Reviewing Authority. Reviewing Authority shall make a note to that effect along with his observations before passing it to next higher authority for acceptance.
b. Where the Reporting Authority has not seen but the Reviewing Authority has seen the performance of the officer reported upon for at least three (03) months during the period for which Confidential Report is to be written the Reviewing Authority shall write the Confidential Report of any such officer for any such period.
c. Where neither the Reporting Authority nor the Reviewing Authority have seen the performance of an officer for at least three (03) months during the period for which Confidential Report is to be written and/ or when the Confidential Report of any officer is found to have not been initiated/ countersigned for particular year (s) and the respective officers mentioned as authorities are not available at the present place, the existing officers will initiate (report)/ countersign ( review) the Confidential Report of the concerned officer on the basis of the performance and other available records.
d. An Officer shall not be competent to report or countersign the Confidential Reports of an officer Reported upon after one month of the retirement from Govt. Service or, in other cases, demission of office.
e. If the Confidential Reports of any officer for some past year(s) are not available either in the Finance Department or in the office where he worked, Finance Department may call for “Report on Performance” of the concerned officer during the period under reference from the existing authorities in order to enable the Special Secretary/ Secretary (Group-T) to initiate the Confidential Report(s) of such officer(s) and place before the Secretary/ Pr. Secretary, Finance Department for acceptance irrespective of scale of officer.
16. COMMUNICATION OF ADVERSE/CRITICAL REMARKS:
a. Any remarks in the Confidential Report of an Officer Reported upon, which in the opinion of the Government is adverse or critical or “Below Average” should be communicated to the officer in writing by the Government within three months of receipt of the Confidential Report and a note to this effect should be recorded in the Confidential Report files.
b. An Officer may represent to the Government against the adverse remarks so communicated within three months of the date of its receipt by him/her or within such other extended date as the Government may allow.
c. The Government after consulting the Reporting Officer or the Reviewing Officer as may be necessary consider the representation and pass order on it as early as possible, either:
i) Rejecting the representation; or
ii) Toning down or substituting the remarks; or
iii) Expunging the remarks.
d. The Order passed by the Govt. shall be final and the officer should be suitable informed. The necessary change in the Confidential Report should be effected under attestation by the proper authority.
e. Remarks recorded by an officer in the Confidential Report should prevail unless it is contradicted by any of the Higher Authorities to whom it is required to be submitted or modified under Para 16 (c) above.
17. A Revised Format of CONFIDENTIAL REPORT for WBA&AS officers is also enclosed.
18. This order will take effect from Reporting Year 2015-2016.
These instructions are brought to the notice of all Administrative Departments including all Divisional Commissioners and District Magistrates for proper circulation, to all Heads of Directorate, Regional Officers and Public Sector undertakings/ Autonomous Bodies, etc. as well as Sub-Divisional officers for compliance and guideline.
Sd/- H K Dwivedi
Principal Secretary