11. Insofar as the first of the issues is concerned, we start
by stating the generic principle that the purpose of writing
APAR is not to settle scores but to give an opportunity to
the concerned employee to improve upon. This has been
considered by the Tribunal at length in Gunjan Prasad
versus Government of India [ MANU/CA/0278/2015],
relevant portion whereof is extracted hereunder for the
sake of better clarity:-
Date: 2025.05.09 17:28:42+05'30'
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Finance in OA No.100/3017/2017 dated 23rd October,
2018 whereby the evaluation made by the Reviewing Officer for the
period 01.04.2014 to 31.10.2014 was set aside and evaluation made
by the Reporting Officer was treated as final by the Accepting
Authority for all intents and purposes and the applicant therein was
rated as '8.1' for all purposes by the Tribunal.
10.8. Mr.Walia further placed reliance on the order of the CAT,
Principal Bench dated 28th April, 2015 in the case of Shri Gunjan
Prasad Vs. Government of India in OA No.1233/2014. The
Hon'ble Tribunal has held that "it implies that the APAR of the
applicant has been recorded in negligent and careless manner". It
was held that "the point stands well proved that both the reporting
and the reviewing officers have recorded their remarks in the APAR
well past the deadlines of 30th June and 31st August as mandated in
20 OA No.269/2016
the OM dated 16th February, 2009 and, therefore, the OA was
allowed". The above judgment has been upheld by the Hon'ble
High Court of Delhi at New Delhi in WP (c) 5218/2018 vide judgment
dated 11th September, 2018
10.9.
7. Learned counsel for the applicant cited the order of Principal
Bench of this Tribunal in OA No.1233/2014, dated 28.04.2015
Page 6 of 9 7 OA No.201/00152/2017
(Shri Gunjan Prasad vs. Govt. of India), wherein it has been
held that the APARs filled after the prescribed timeline given in the
DoP&T OM dated 16.02.2009, are not tenable and illegal.
25. Further, the designated reporting officer demitted
office on 31.10.2017. Once the designated reporting
officer and review officer demitted their respective
offices, 'no report period' is certified and it is attached for
the relevant period. No such certificate was attached in
this case. However, for the period from 01.04.2017 to
01.11.2017 in line with OM dated 16.02.2009, the
applicant received a certificate dated 14.06.2018 for "no
report period" since both the reporting officer and
reviewing officer had demitted their respective offices.
We fail to understand as to why the same practice was
(37) O.A. No.728/2020
not followed in relation to impugned APARs. The issue of
delay in submitting APARs by reporting and reviewing
officers resulting in quashing of such APAR has been dealt
with at length in the judgment of Shri Gunjan Prasad
vs. Govt. Of India, through its Secretary,
Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance 2015
SCC OnLine CAT 3215 as under-