DoT: Timely completion of APAR in case of transfer / retirement of officers

Online recording of APAR through SPARROW Portal has been introduced in respect of Officers of Indian Radio Regulatory Service (IRRS) Group-A. In this regard it has been observed on many occasions that the Officers Reported Upon (ORU) does not inform the change in Reporting Authority during the year due to transfer/retirement etc., and consequently the assessment of such APAR is deferred till the end of the year.

In this connection, following aspects of the guidelines with respect to SPARROW are brought to the notice of all concerned :-

• The Officer Reported Upon (ORU) should ensure that their data is duly mapped in SPARROW system.
• When a report has to be written by a Reporting Officer, who is under transfer, it should be written at the Time of transfer or immediately thereafter and not differed till the end of the year.
• When a Reporting Officer/Reviewing Officer retires, he/she is allowed to write/review the report with regard to his/her subordinates within one month of retirement.
• If the ORU does not provide details for online generation of APAR and does not submit self appraisal to Reporting Authority within the stipulated time frame, the Reporting Authority should take a call and remind the ORU in writing, asking him/her to submit his/her self appraisal.

In view of the above, all officers are requested, firstly, to ensure that their SPAR ROW account is fully functional. Secondly, in the event of transfer of Office Reported Upon / Reporting Officer, they should get their APAR assessed by the officer concerned at the earliest. Thirdly, in the event of retirement of Reporting Authority, Office Reported Upon should get his/her APAR assessed within one month of the retirement of the officer concerned.

It is pointed out that it is the responsibility of all the officers concerned i.e., Office Reported Upon / Reporting Authority / Reviewing Authority, to complete the entire process of APAR (Self-appraisal, reporting/reviewing) within the stipulated time frame in the aforementioned circumstances. However, since the most affected persons due to non-completion of APAR is the Officer Reported Upon (ORU), he/she should take special care to see that the above guidelines/instructions are fully complied with by all concerned, for which he/she may make personal efforts.

In view of the above, all officers of IRRS Group-A are requested to provide their complete details along with the details of their Reporting and Reviewing Authority in the prescribed format duly verified by the Concerned Authority, to the PAR Manager/PAR Custodian for creation of their e-PAR in the circumstances as mentioned under Paragraph 2 above, within stipulated time frame, in order to avoid any complications at later stage.
CT Bureau