Timely completion of APARs as per the timelines of the DoPT by Group A & Group B Officers of the IT Department

Timely completion of APARs as per the timelines of the DoPT by Group A & Group B Officers of the Income Tax Department

APAR / SPARROW
URGENT

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
CENTRAL BOARD OF DIRECT TAXES
(Human Resources Development)
2nd Floor, K Ramp, JLN Stadium, Pragati Vihar, New Delhi- 110003
[email protected]

F.No. HRD/PM/APAR/403/SPARROW/2021-22 /10885

Dated:18/02/2022

To,

All the Pr.CCsIT(CCA)/Pr.DGsIT/CCsIT/DGsIT

Subject:- Timely completion of APARs as per the timelines of the DoPT by Group A & Group B Officers of the Income Tax Department – reg.
Respected Madam/Sir,

Kindly refer to the DoPT OM No. 35014/4/83-Estt.A dated 23rd September 1985 and DoPT OM No. 21011/02/2009-Estt.A dated 16th February 2009 regarding timely preparation and proper maintenance of APARs.

2. In order to reduce APAR deficiencies which were one of the main reasons for delay in holding DPCs, the CBDT with the approval of Competent Authority has migrated to the SPARROW portal to ensure timely completion of APAR cycles. However, it is seen that a number of APARs still remain pending for the following reasons:

• at the level of Officers Reported Upon (ORU): due to non-submission of self­ appraisals within the due dates; or
• at the level of Reporting Officers: due to non-reporting I non-initiation of APARs within due dates; or
• at the level of Reviewing Officers: due to non-reviewing I non-initiation of APARs within due dates.

This has resulted in delay in completion of APAR cycles.

3. Recently, the DPCs/Screening Committees have taken an adverse view that a large number of NRCs are drawn in respect of IRS(IT) Officers due to non-reporting or non­ reviewing of APARs by the Reporting Officers/Reviewing Officers on time or delayed submission of self-appraisals by the ORUs.

4. Therefore, keeping in view the DoPT OM No. 35014/4/83-Estt.A dated 23rd September 1985 and DoPT OM No. 21011/02/2009-Estt.A dated 15th February, 2009; it has been decided that the following guidelines shall apply with effect from the Reporting Year 2021-22:

i. If no self-work flow is created or no self-appraisal is submitted by the ORU within DoPT timelines (i.e. 15th April): If the ORU does not create self-workflow or does not submit self-appraisal by due date (i.e. 15th April) , the ORU shall be considered as a defaulting officer. If no self-workflow is created by the ORU, the Primary Custodian shall create workflows of such ORUs after obtaining Basic Information of the ORU from the concerned DDOs and initiate their APARs by 30th April. Where the self-appraisal is not submitted by the ORUs, the Primary Custodian shall force forward all such blank APARs to the Reporting Officers by 15th May mentioning reasons in the comments section.

ii. If the Reporting Officer does not report the APAR within DoPT timeline (i.e. 30th June): The Reporting Officer shall forfeit the right to enter any remarks in the APAR, and the APAR shall be FORCE FORWARDED on SPARROW by the concerned Primary Custodian to the Reviewing Officer on the next working day. In such situations, the Reviewing Officer shall report the APAR and a No Review Certificate will be placed in the Dossier. While reporting the APAR in such cases, the Reviewing Officer shall report about the INTEGRITY of the ORU also. The Reporting Officer shall be considered as a defaulting officer in such cases.

iii. If the Reviewing Officer does not review the APAR (which has been duly reported by the Reporting Officer) within DoPT timeline (i.e. 31st July): The Reviewing Officer shall forfeit his right to enter any remarks in the APAR and the APAR shall be FORCE FORWARDED by the Primary Custodian to the next stage. A No Review Certificate would be placed in the Dossier in such a case. The Reviewing Officer shall be considered as a defaulting officer in such cases.

iv. Where no self-appraisal was submitted by the ORU AND both the Reporting Officer and Reviewing Officer also not reported APAR within timelines: A No APAR Certificate, mentioning all the facts, shall be placed in the Dossier. The Primary Custodian shall mention all facts regarding non-submission of self-appraisal by ORU, non-reporting by Reporting Officer and non-reporting by the Reviewing Officer in remarks section while force forwarding the APAR to next stage. These remarks shall have heading of ‘No APAR Certificate’ . The ORU, the Reporting Officer and the Reviewing Officer shall be considered as defaulting officers in such cases.

v. In the month of October, the Primary Custodian shall prepare a list of such defaulting officers, i.e.

a. ORUs, who have not created self-workflow and/or not submitted self­ appraisal within timeline (i.e. 15th April),

b. Reporting Officers, who have not reported APARs within the timeline (i.e. 30th June), and

c. Reviewing Officers, who have not reviewed the APARs (or not reported the unreported APARs) within timeline (i.e. 31st July).

vi. In case the defaulting officer is up to the level of PCIT, the Primary Custodian shall submit this list to the Pr.CCIT(CCA) concerned. Where the defaulting officer is of the level of CCIT & above, the Primary Custodian shall send this list to the Pr.DGIT(HRD).

vii. The Pr.CCIT(CCA) may call for the explanation of the concerned officers (up to the level of PCIT) for not having performed the public duty of writing the APARs within the due date and in the absence of proper justification may direct that a written warning/advisory for the delay in completing the APAR be placed in the APAR folder of the defaulting officer concerned. For the ORUs, who are on deputation, the Pr.DGIT(HRD) may call for the explanation as above. In the cases of the defaulting officers of the level of CCIT & above, the Pr.DGIT(HRD) may call for the explanation as above after approval from the Chairman, CBDT (Draft Show Cause Notice is attached herewith for ready reference as per Annexure-1 ).

viii. In such cases where the Reporting officer or Reviewing Officer have forfeited their right to make any entry in the APAR of the ORU (although the self-appraisal had been submitted by the ORU in time) , the APAR format with the self-appraisal submitted by the ORU will be placed in the APAR dossier of the ORU.

ix. If the APAR is not accepted/represented by the ORU within 15 days of communication: The ORU will forfeit right to make any representation and the APAR shall be force forwarded/closed by the Primary Custodian (mentioning reasons of force closing in remarks section).

x. The whole exercise of closure of APAR cycle after disposing all representations and issuing of written warning/advisory to defaulting officers shall be completed by 30th November.

xi. 1st April to 15th April will be observed as “APAR Fortnight” in the Department every year to enhance timely compliance.

5. As per the above instructions, the duties/responsibilities of the various officers/sections regarding APARs shall be as under:

Table A : Responsibilities of the Officer Reported Upon (ORU):

Timeline	Responsibility	Action upon failure
Immediately after 3151 March (advisable to do it in the first week of April only) [APAR Fortnight]	Login to SPARROW account; Create self-work flow correctly (following the SOP dated 22.03.21 and SOP dated 09.04.21 issued by the HRD) and save it; Prepare basic information correctly filling all 18 points, get it verified from the ODO and send it to the respective Primary / Alternate Custodian for initiation of APAR	The explanation shall be called for by – Pr.CCIT(CCA): for ORUs upto PCIT level Pr.DGIT(HRD): for ORUs who are on deputation Pr.DGIT(HRD): for ORUs of CCIT & above levels with prior approval of the Chairman, CBDT
By 15th April	Submit self-appraisal to the Reporting Officer online on SPARROW portal	[as per para 4(v to vii) of this letter]
Within 15 days from the date of receipt of communication of APAR	i. Accept the APAR ii. Or submit a representation on the SPARROW portal	If not accepted/ represented within 15 days of communication, the ORU shall forfeit right to make any representation and the APAR shall be force closed by the Primarv Custodian.
Within 15 days from change of Reporting Officer (due to transfer / retirement / any other reason) anytime during the year	Login to SPARROW account; Create self-work flow correctly and save it; Prepare basic information correctly filling all 18 points, get it verified from the ODO and send it to the respective Primary / Alternate Custodian for initiation of APAR; After initiation of APAR by the Custodian , submit self-appraisal to the Reporting Officer

Table B: Responsibilities of the Reporting Officer:

Timeline	Responsibility	Action upon failure
After 15th April up to 30th June	Report the APARs of all such ORUs whose performance has been observed for more than 3 months. Where the ORU had not created self-workflow and/ or had not submitted self-appraisal, then after completing the process of initiating the APAR by the Primary Custodian as laid down in para 4(i), the Reporting Officer will report the APAR on the basis of the experience of the work and conduct of the ORU. While doing so, the Reporting Officer can also point out the failure of the ORU to create self-workflow within the stipulated time and/or submit self-appraisal within the stipulated time.	i. The explanation shall be called for by – Pr.CCIT(CCA): for defaulting Reporting Officers upto PCIT level Pr.DGIT (HRD): for defaulting Reporting Officers of CCIT & above levels with prior approval of the Chairman, CBDT [as per para 4(v to vii) of this letter] ii. The Reporting Officer shall forfeit right to enter any remarks in the APAR of the ORU beyond 30th June.
Comments on representations	The Reporting Officer may send his comments as sought by the Primary custodian on representation within 15 days.	If no comments are received within 15 days, the Primary Custodian will proceed further for disposal of the representation without such comments.
Withing one month of retirement / VRS	The Reporting Officers expected to report the APARs submitted by the ORU him within one month of his retirement / VRS

Table C: Responsibilities of the Reviewing Officer:

Timeline	Responsibility	Action upon failure
After 30th June up to 31st July	Where ORU has submitted self-appraisal Review the APARs of the ORUs which have been received after reporting by the concerned Reporting Officers. If the Reporting Officer did not report in time and the APAR has been received by the Reviewing Officer force forwarded by the Primary Custodian, the Reviewing Officer shall report the APAR and shall report about the INTEGRITY of the ORU also. Where ORU has not submitted self-appraisal After initiation of APAR by the Primary Custodian [as laid down in para 4(i)], if the Reporting. Officer has reported the APAR within time, the Reviewing Officer shall review the APAR . After initiation of APAR by the Primary Custodian [as laid down in para 4(i)], if the Reporting Officer also failed to report the APAR within due date and the blank APAR is force forwarded to the Reviewing Officer, the Reviewing Officer will proceed to report the APAR on the basis of the experience of the work and conduct of the ORU. While doing so, the Reviewing Officer can also point out the failure of the ORU to submit self-appraisal within the stipulated time and failure of the Reporting Officer to report the APAR within the stipulated time. The Reviewing Officer shall report about the INTEGRITY of the ORU also. After reporting this APAR, the Reviewing Officer will submit the APAR to CR Section .	i. The explanation shall be called for by – Pr.CCIT(CCA): for defaulting Reviewing Officers upto PCIT level Pr. DGIT (HRD) : for defaulting Reviewing Officers of CCIT & above levels with prior approval of the Chairman, CBDT [as per para 4(v to vii) of this letter] ii. The Reviewing Officer shall forfeit right to enter any remarks in the APAR of the ORU beyond 31st July.
Comments on representations	The Reviewing Officer Officer may send his comments as sought by the Primary custodian on representation within 15 days.	If no comments are received within 15 days, the Primary Custodian will proceed further for disposal of the representation without such comments.

Table D: Responsibilities of the Primary Custodian /Alternate Custodian I the APAR section:

Timeline	Responsibility
From 1st to 15th April [APAR Fortnight]	The Primary/Alternate Custodians shall keep reminding all officers of their charge from time to time to create self-work flow for APAR on the SPARROW portal. They shall initiate APARs promptly as and when self-work flow is received on SPARROW from the ORUs (following the SOP dated 01.04.21 issued by HRD).
After 15th April up to 30th April	The Primary Custodian shall prepare a list of such ORUs who have not created self- workflow . The Primary Custodian shall get Basic Information of such ORUs from their DDOs in the format for Basic information (as per the attached format Annexure-2). The DDOs shall prepare and verify the basic information on the basis of service books/records. Then the Primary Custodian shall create workflow of such ORUs and initiate their APAR. The Alternate Custodians shall assist the Primary Custodian in this process.
By 15th May	If the Primary Custodian finds any APAR still pending in the account of any ORU, the Primary Custodian shall force forward that blank APARs to the Reporting Officers concerned for reporting (mentioning reasons of force forwarding in remarks section).
From 16th May up to 30th June	The Primary/Alternate Custodians shall keep reminding all Reporting Officers of their charge to report the APARs on SPARROW portal.
Next working day after 30th June	Where the Reporting Officers have not reported the APARs till 30th June, the Primary Custodian shall FORCE FORWARD all such unreported APARs (mentioning reasons of force forwarding in remarks section) to the next stage (i.e. to the concerned Reviewing Officers) . Then the Reviewing Officers shall report such APARs .
1st July to 31st July	The Primary/Alternate Custodians shall keep reminding all Reviewing Officers of their charge to review the APARs (which have been duly reported by the Reporting Officers) or report the APARs (where the Reporting Officers had forfeited rights to report due to non- reporting within due date) on SPARROW portal.
Next working day after 31st July	The Primary Custodian shall FORCE FORWARD all such APARs to the CR section (mentioning reasons of force forwarding in remarks section), where the Reviewing officers have not reviewed or reported the APARs , as the case may be, within due date.
1st August to 1st September	The Primary Custodian shall disclose the reviewed APARs on SPARROW portal to the concerned ORUs. The Primary Custodians should disclose the APARs immediately as and when the reviewed APARs are received by the CR section. In any case, this process must be completed by 1st September.
By mid- September	Categorize the representations received on the SPARROW portal as and when received and take action as indicated below:(a) Representations of CIT and above: The HRD will seek comments/views of the Reporting and Reviewing Officers concerned on such representations and submit the same to the Competent Authority for decision. (b) Representations of officers below CIT level where the Competent Authority is Board: If representation pertains to any officer of the grade of Addi.CIT or below and where the Pr.CCIT is reporting or reviewing officer and the Competent Authority is Zonal Member or Hon’ble Chairperson, the Primary Custodian concerned shall get the comments/views of the Reporting and Reviewing Officers concerned on the representations . After receipt of the comments/views of the Reporting and Reviewing Officers, the representation along with these comments/views should be sent to the HRD for putting up to the Competent Authority at CBDT level. If no comments are received within 15 days from the Reporting/Reviewing Officers, only the representation should be sent to the HRD mentioning the facts that comments have not been received. (c) Where the Competent Authority to decide the representations are upto Pr.CCIT(CCA): The Primary Custodian concerned shall obtain the comments/views of the Reporting and Reviewing Officers concerned on the representations . After receipt of the comments/views of the Reporting and Reviewing Officers, the Primary Custodian shall put up I send the representation along with the comments/views of the Reporting and Reviewing Officers to the concerned Competent Authority for disposal with a request to dispose the same within one month from the date of receipt of representation. The Competent Authority may also be requested to dispose of the representation by assing detailed reasoned speaking order in view of the OMs dated 13th April 2010, 19 h May 2011 and 31st January 2014 of the DoPT. If no comments are received within 15 days from the Reporting/Reviewing Officers, the Primary custodian may proceed further without these comments .
First week of October	Prepare a list of following defaulting officers: ORUs, who had not created self-work flow on SPARROW or not submitted self­ appraisal within timeline (i.e. upto 15th April) Reporting Officers, who did not report APARs within timeline (i.e. 30th June) Reviewing Officers, who did not review APARs within timeline (i.e. 31st July) Submit the above details to Pr.CCIT(CCA): for defaulting officers upto PCIT level Pr.DGIT(HRD): for defaulting officers of CCIT & above levels*
By 15th October	Primary Custodian of Pr.CCIT(CCA): Issue Show Cause Notices seeking explanations from the defaulting officers (upto PCIT level) after approval of the Pr.CCIT(CCA) Primary Custodian of Pr.D.GIT(HRD): Issue Show Cause Notices seeking explanations from the defaulting officers (who are on deputation) after approval of the Pr.DGIT(HRD). Primary Custodian of Pr.DGIT(HRD): Issue Show Cause Notices seeking explanations from the defaulting officers (of the level of CCIT & above) after approval of the Chairman, CBDT.
By 15th November	In respect of Representations i. Upload the decision of the Competent Authority on representations on the SPARROW portal. In respect of Defaulting Officers ii. After receipt of the explanations from the defaulting officers, the Primary Custodian shall get decisions on the same from the Competent Authority [Pr.CCIT(CCA)/Pr.DGIT(HRD)/Chairman(CBDT)] and place an appropriate warning/advisory in the APAR dossier of the defaulting officers as per the decision of the Competent Authority.
By 30th November	Close the APAR cycle on the SPARROW portal after preparing NRCs wherever applicable mentioning detailed reasons of the NRCs. NRCs upto the PCIT level are to be drawn by the Primary Custodian. NRCs of CCIT & above and of deputation officers shall be drawn by the HRD. Where the Reporting officer or Reviewing Officer have forfeited their right to make any entry in the APAR of the ORU, the APAR format with the self-appraisal submitted by the ORU will be placed in the APAR dossier of the ORU as per para 4(viii) above.

*The details to be mailed to HRD at email id: sparrow.hrd@incometax .gov.in.

2. The stage at which an officer becomes a “Defaulting Officer” along with actions to be taken is further clarified as under:

Table E: Summary of actions as per various situations

S.No.	Self-appraisal Stage	Reporting Stage	Reviewing Stage	Remarks
(i)	Submitted within timeline	Reported within timeline	Reviewed within timeline	APAR will be disclosed by the Primary custodian.
(ii)	Submitted within timeline	Reported within timeline	Not reviewed within timeline	Reviewing Officer would be defaulting officer as per para 4(v to vii) above and No Review Certificate would be placed in dossier mentioning all facts.
(iii)	Submitted within timeline	Not reported within timeline	Would be force forwarded to Reviewing Officer who will Report	Reporting Officer would be defaulting officer as per para 4(v to vii) above and No Review Certificate would be placed in dossier mentioning all facts.
(iv)	Submitted within timeline	Not reported within timeline	Force forwarded to Reviewing Officer but not Reported by Reviewing Officer also within timeline	Both Reporting and Reviewing Officers would be defaulting officers as per para 4(v to vii) above and the APAR filed by the ORU shall be placed in the dossier with a certificate mentioning all facts [as per para 4(viii)].
(v)	Not submitted within timeline	Reported within timeline after initiation of APAR by Primary Custodian	Reviewed within timeline	ORU would be defaulting officer as per para 4(v to vii) above. APAR will be disclosed by the Primary custodian.
(vi)	Not submitted within timeline	Not reported within timeline even after initiation of APAR by Primary Custodian	Would be force forwarded to Reviewing Officer who will Report	ORU and Reporting Officer would be defaulting officers as per para 4(v to vii) above and No Review Certificate would be placed in dossier mentioning all facts.
(vii)	Not submitted within timeline	Not reported within timeline even after initiation of APAR by Primary Custodian	Force forwarded to Reviewing Officer but not Reported by Reviewing Officer also within timeline	ORU, Reporting Officer and Reviewing Officer would be defaulting officers as per para 4(v to vii) above and No APAR Certificate would be placed in dossier mentioning all facts.
(viii)	Submitted after 15th April up to 15th May	ORU would be defaulting officer as per para 4(v to vii) above and rest actions shall be as per the situation nos. (i) to (iv) in this table above.

7. For any other circumstances in which NRCs are to be issued, the extant DoPT guidelines shall

8. It is once again reiterated that from the Reporting Year 2021-22 onwards, the option of “FORCE FORWARING” of APAR will be applied on SPARROW, and action as proposed in above paras would be taken on the officers who fail to perform their public duty regarding APARs . Whenever the Primary Custodian will force forward the APAR to the next stage, it is mandatory for the Primary Custodian to mention reasons of force forwarding in detail in the remarks section there.

9. Reminders will be placed on irsofficersonline and also through SMSs to inform officers to follow the timelines as provided by DoPT.

10. This issues with the approval of the Chairman, CBDT.

Encl: Annexure-1 & 2

Yours faithfully,

(Meeta singh)
Additional Director General-1
HRD, CBDT, New Delhi

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