848. Recording of annual confidential report on Gazetted Officers.
(a)Annual confidential reports are recorded for the period 1st April to the 31st March of every year. Ordinarily, no report is required on a Government servant who has served under the reporting officer for less than four months. Certain special reports for short periods as for instance training in Training School, or College, or in the Secretariat, have to be entered in character rolls. A reporting officer who goes on long leave or transfer after holding charge of a post for more than six months in the course of a reporting year, should record remarks which will be incorporated in the annual confidential reports on the subordinate officers. If the period is shorter than six months, notes on individual officers should be left for the successor.(b)Reports should be recorded in the prescribed forms. The gradation number of the officer given in the latest edition of the Civil list, the post held by him, and in case he held more than one post during the reporting year, the exact period (with dates) during which he held particular post must be mentioned clearly and accurately. The report should invariably give the name and designation of the reporting officer also. Reports should be based on the personal knowledge. The report for a particular year should not take into account the work and conduct of the officer reported on a previous year, or at a different station. Where a report is not based on direct personal knowledge but on some other officers estimate, such as note left by the predecessor, or on matters which come to light during inspection of an officer's work after his transfer, the fact should be mentioned.Note. - If any Department of Government come to know of any instance of any particularly good or particularly bad work on the part of an officer of the above service employed under such departments, they may, as in the past, send a special report to the Education Department for incorporating it in the officer's character roll.(c)The essential point to be kept in view in reporting on an officer is that reports should be so full as to bring out clearly his qualities, merits as well as defects, and provide adequate material for forming a correct and definite judgement as to how the services of the officer may best be utilised. As an officer's record is built up over the years, it should be possible to assess from the character report his personality, character and integrity, his abilities as well as shortcomings. The record should faithfully mirror him as a public servant. Vague remarks like "promising" "satisfactory" "not up to the mark" are not useful. Point requiring special notice are industry, intelligence, soundness of judgement, integrity, physical health, power of control and supervision, tact manners, relations with fellow officers and the public. To avoid overloading of the report, particular instances of good or bad work need not ordinarily be given. The annual confidential report must be fair and objective. It must be a properly balanced report. The reporting officer must exercise deliberate care in writing the remarks. Personal prejudices for or against a subordinate officer should be scrupulously kept out. Adulation or praise in superlative terms where it is not due, as also derogatory, abusive terms giving vent to one officer's dislike of another should find no place in these reports. Impartiality and candour are expected of a reporting officer; but restraint and caution are also necessary, particularly if an officer's integrity and good reputation are to be called in question.(d)Reporting officers should try to know personally the work of those officers on whom they have to write reports. The reporting officer's lack of knowledge about his subordinates work which is a sign of inadequate supervision, is the biggest single factor responsible for such a large percentage of annual confidential reports being of so little use. Before writing a report, say. on an Inspecting Officer, the Reporting Officer should consult the returns which show whether he has carried out the prescribed inspections of the institutions under his charge, whether the school buildings have received attention, whether his touring has been adequate, whether the progress of education in his area as a whole has been satisfactory. Government would appreciate a clear picture, rather than a vague and general impression which these reports tend to convey. He should also keep a note-book in which during his tours, he should make brief notes on the individual officers whose work he sees; they will be of help at the time of the writing of character rolls in recording a just and comprehensive report based on personal knowledge. While mentioning an officer's defects in the annual report, the reporting officer should state explicitly whether, during the year, the attention of the subordinate officer was drawn to the defects. Superior officers are expected to supervise the work of their subordinates and correct them when they go wrong. This is as much their personal responsibility as any other duties. Minor failings corrected at the time should not encumber these reports. If the subordinate officer has made genuine attempts to remedy the defects, that should also be noted. Government would then have an up-to-date appreciation of the officer's work and the officer would know that his efforts to improve has not passed unnoticed. If pending enquiries are mentioned in the annual report, the final result of the enquiries should be intimated to Government in due course for appropriate entry in the character roll.
