IMPORTANCE
OF ANNUAL CONFIDENTIAL REPORTS IN SERVICE
By
ISHFAQ ALI
B.Sc., L.L.B., M.L.I.Sc.
Librarian,
Advocate-General,
N.W.F.P.,
The Annual Confidential Report (ACR) is an evaluation
report of a servant (Civil servant/ Government Servant / Public servant). It
contains specific observations regarding character, conduct, integrity and
performance of a servant. It reveals the clear picture of a servant has to be
reported upon, with regard to amongst others, his personal qualities, standard
of performance, dealing with others, potential growth and his suitability for
promotion, or to appoint to a higher post according to individual aptitude. It
is an important document. It is written with a view to adjudge their
performance every year in the areas of their work. It provides the basis and vital inputs for
assessing the performance of an officer and for his further advancement in his
career. The Reporting Officer and the Countersigning Officer, should,
therefore, undertake the duty to write this report with a high sense of
responsibility. The system of writing confidential reports has two main
objectives. First and foremost is to improve performance of the subordinates in
their present job. The second is to assess their potentialities and to prepare
them for the jobs suitable to their personality. The columns of ACRs are, therefore, to be filled up by the Reporting and
countersigning authorities in an objective and impartial manner.
Annual Confidential Report is
written by immediate superior officer and countersigned by an officer
immediately superior to the officer who writes the report. Reporting officer and
countersigning officer while
recording remarks in A.C.R. should be discreet, judicious, precise, detached,
disinterested, dispassionate, equitable and fair minded without being partial.
Countersigning officer, however,
while recording adverse remarks could not be deemed to have violated any of
such principles.[1] Annual Confidential Report
is the objective assessment and evaluation of Reporting Officer about personal qualities, attitudes and
proficiency in job of civil servant which was gauged by his work and
performance. In other words, civil servant had no chance whatsoever to
controvert the assessment made by Reporting
Officer through any objective evidence to the contrary.[2]
Courts however generally avoided the substitution for an opinion of competent
authority unless the same is tainted with mala fide,
partiality and bias.[3]
Report written by a person having similar grade and status have been
vitiated by the Courts.[4]
Only next higher authority can write ACR.[5]
Evaluation of a subordinate servant is a matter of subjective assessment and not
an objective evaluation as held by Supreme Court in Noor Elahi vs.
Director of Civilian Personnel[6]. Question of subjective assessment is
within the supervisory domain of Reporting
officer which could not be interfered with unless some convincing and cogent
reasoning was available.[7]
Service Tribunal or the Court as a rule cannot substitute the view recorded by
the Reporting Officer or the
Countersigning Officer, nor it will interfere with the said evaluation.[8]
Performance appraisal through ACR should
be used as a tool for human resource development. Reporting Officers should
realize that the objective is to develop an officer so that he realizes his
true potential. It is not meant to be a fault-finding process but a development
one. The Reporting Officer and the Reviewing Officer should not shy away from
reporting shortcomings in performance, attitudes or overall personality of the
officer reported upon.
In a case of Syed Zahiruddin
Kazmi[9] relationship between civil servant and Reporting Officer was strained and
civil servant had time and again submitted applications against Reporting Officer that his rights
should be safeguarded so that he might not become victim of personal grudge of Reporting Officer for purpose of
A.C.R.. Reporting Officer was
hostile and harbouring ill-will against civil
servant. Adverse remarks against civil servants based on bias of Reporting Officer being unfounded and
uncalled for, were expunged. In another case titled Saeed Ahmed Vs. Federation
Of Pakistan[10], documents on record clearly indicated that
civil servant and Countersigning
officer were not on good terms
from the time when civil servant had represented against inducting in office of
Countersigning officer in preference to employee, to
whom promotion should have been given. Remarks of Countersigning officer
prima facie seemed to be biased. and result of hostility which both civil
servant and he had been nursing. Adverse remarks being biased, unreasonable and
contrary to facts same could not be allowed to remain on record.
Delay in writing of
the confidential reports delays holding of Departmental Promotion Committees
for promotion and appointments on higher posts,
which cause undue hardship to the employees whose cases are due for
consideration. The confidential reports should, therefore, be written strictly
in accordance with the prescribed time schedule in the beginning of the year.
Successor competent authority was not debarred from recording adverse remarks
if the former officer had not recorded the Annual Confidential
Report.[11]
In Muhammad
Ishaque’s case[12] Supreme Court held
that “a retired
officers can write or countersign A.C.Rs of their
subordinate officers. Where however, the A.C.Rs were
not completed for period about two decades back, proper course to follow should
have been to docket the A.C.Rs for period in
question”. In view of preoccupation of District and Sessions Judges and Judges
of the High Court with ever increasing of judicial work, delay in initiating Annual Confidential Report
s of some of Judicial Officers and conveying adverse remarks to them is
immaterial and cannot obliterate the adverse remarks in question.[13]
In a case titled Government
of NWFP Vs. Abdul Nasim Khan[14], Supreme Court held
that Service Tribunal
had taken note of admission of official representing Government that civil
servant had been graded as "good" but Countersigning officer
's remark "the officer did
not impress me much" fell under pen-picture. Such obvious contradiction in
gradation and pen-picture was enough to rob pen-picture of its veracity. Such
pen-picture had been rightly found to be unwarranted by Service Tribunal under
rules governing recording of pen-picture. Adverse remarks in Annual Confidential Report
s requiring countersignatures of superior officer. Service Tribunal on
knowledge of such fact should have treated Annual Confidential
Report s as incomplete and
appeal to Service Tribunal to be premature, directing Authority concerned to
get those reports completed by
countersigning officer before communicating the adverse remarks.[15]
Reporting Officers
should keep in mind that writing of A.C.Rs. was not
only a sacred trust reposed in them by Government but it involved the career of
an officer and personal likes and dislikes, bias and mala fides must be kept aside.[16]
Under rules of discipline in the matters of civil servants, character role or Annual Confidential Report
was regarded as basic record that was required to be maintained every year to
evaluate performance of civil servant and said Report should be prepared very carefully. Reporting, Officer as well as Countersigning Officer were supposed
to see that Report should not
reflect undue generosity or harshness.[17]
the Reporting officer been
biased, the civil servant would have not been able to get "good" reports regarding his intelligence,
confidence, knowledge of Islam and knowledge towards Ideology of Islam. Power
of expression, knowledge of work and analytical ability of the civil servant
had been appreciated which could not have been done by a biased Reporting officer.[18]
Adverse remarks recorded by Reporting Officer not underlined in
red ink by Countersigning Officer as communicated. Such remarks, held, could
not be treated as approved by Countersigning Officer. Remarks of Countersigning
Officer ordered to be retained and those recorded by Reporting Officer directed to be expunged.[19]
Advisory remarks
are meant for improvement, which can neither
be taken as stigma nor be treated as adverse,[20]
but is conveyed as a matter of caution for civil servant to correct himself.[21]
For the purposes of move over an average Annual Confidential
Report could be treated
generally as good.[22]
Average Report is not an adverse Report.[23]
The reporting or countersigning officer can write the
confidential report of an officer if it has at least an experience of three
months of work and conduct of the officer reported upon.[24]
The period during which the officer reported upon remains on Earned
Leave/Commuted Leave, should be deducted for calculating the required period of
3 months for writing of ACR, because the work and conduct of the officer is
actually not supervised during the leave period.
When an adverse remark is made in the confidential report of the official
reported upon, a copy of the whole report should be furnished to him at the
earliest opportunity, and in any case
within one month[25] from
the date the reports countersigned, with a memorandum a copy of which should be
signed and returned by him in acknowledgement of the report and be in turn
placed in the character roll for record. Communication
of adverse remarks beyond prescribed period will be vitiated the report.
Unreasonable delay in communicating said adverse remarks to civil servant
having occurred, Departmental Authorities failed to explain each day's delay
before Service Tribunal.[26]
Adverse remarks recorded in Annual
Confidential Report of civil servant, were
communicated to him after lapse of about four and half months[27],
nine months[28], one year[29],
three years[30] ,
four years[31],
were liable to be expunged. Adverse remarks should be communicated within
prescribed period. Where there was unreasonable delay in communicating adverse
remarks, Authorities should explain such delay with sufficient reason so that
such remarks be accepted to be unbiased and effective.[32]
According to latest pronouncement of Supreme Court, it was held that
requirement of counselling to precede the recording
of adverse remarks was not mandatory in nature. [33]
Anwarul Haq Siddiqui’s
case[34],
it is held that Instruction with regard to recording and countersigning remarks
being directory and not mandatory in nature, non-observance of the same would
not adversely affect the action of the competent authority.
The Supreme Cuort of Pakistan in a
case Zafar Ullah Baloch Vs Government
of Balochistan
held that “fitness of a civil servant to hold next higher post depends
upon his performance which he has been showing during the period prescribed for
promotion to next grade which is to be determined on the basis of material
placed before Competent Authority including Annual Confidential
Report.[35] It means that only the Annual confidential
report alone is not the basis of the fitness other things are also necessary
for the fitness of a servant. The Supreme Court of Pakistan in a case titled Fida Hussain
Javed Vs. Director Food,
Recording of
adverse remarks in ACR of an employee was one of the term and condition of his
service and if adverse remarks had been recorded the civil servant enjoyed a
right to initially challenge the same before the next higher authority of the
Department on the grounds available to him including the one that the adverse
remarks had been recorded on subjective reasons and if his grievance was not
redressed, then the civil servant could approach the Tribunal for redressal of his grievance. Service Tribunal was empowered
to examine the remarks on the basis of available material and if the Tribunal
came to the conclusion that Annual
Confidential Report had not been recorded property
or it was based on extraneous consideration or the allegation was not supported
by the material, then the Tribunal was competent to accept the appeal.
[1]
. 1994 SCMR 722
[2]
. 2005 PLC (CS) 498
[3]
. 2007 SCMR 1251
[4]
. PLJ 1997 Tr.C
(Service) 293 : 1998 PLC (C.S) 986(b) : PLJ 2000 Tr.C.
(Service) 491
[5]
. 1994 PLC (C.S) 1601
[6]
. 1997 SCMR 1749 =
1997 PLC (CS) 1059
[7]
. 2005 SCMR 1035
[8]
. 1994 SCMR 1348
[9]
. 2002 PLC (CS)
1251
[10]
. 1996 SCMR 256
[11]
. 2007 SCMR 632
[12]
. 1998 SCMR 2237
[13]
. 2004 PLC (CS) 236
[14]
. 1997 PLC (CS) 79
[15]
. 1994 SCMR 238
[16]
. 1988 PLC (CS) 392
[17]
. 2006 PLC (CS) 545
[18]
. 2005 SCMR 1035
[19]
. 1988 PSC 560
[20]
. 2004 PLC (CS) 130
[21]
. PLD 1986 SC 684
[22]
. 2005 SCMR 904
[23]
. 1997 SCMR 1303 :
1989 PLC (C.S) 721 : 1995 PLC (C.S) 288 : 1988 PLC (C.S) 230 and
605 : 1994 PLC (C.S) 1539 : 1992 SCMR 1427
[24]
. 1996 PLC (C.S) 635 : 1992 PLC 1046,
697, 566
[25]
. 1996 SCMR 256 : 1995 PLC (C.S) 320 :
1993 PLC (C.S) 1729, 1104, : 1999 SCMR 1587
: 1998 PLC (C.S) 1402 : 1999 PLC (C.S) 624 : 1997 SCMR 1749 : 1999 SCMR 1587 :
2000 PLC (C.S) 392
[26]
. 1998 PLC (CS) 1392 =1998 SCMR
2622
[27]
. 1999 SCMR 1587
[28]
. 1985 PSC 270
[29]
. PLD 2004 SC 191
[30]
. 1995 SCMR 1036
[31]
. 1997 SCMR 1749 :
1997 SCMR 1364
[32]
. 1996 SCMR 256
[33]
. 1999 SCMR 2141
: 1999 SCMR 2117 :
2001 SCMR 1707
[34]
. 2001 SCMR 1707
[35]
. PLC 2002 (CS) 1002 (Supreme Court)
[36]
. 2004 SCMR 62