IMPORTANT POINT
Process of evaluation of an IAS officer, more so a senior IAS officer entails depth of expertise, rigorous and robust understanding of evaluation matrix coupled with nuanced understanding of proficiency required to be at forefront of bureaucracy.

JUDGMENT :

(Satish Chandra Sharma, J.) :

Introduction¹[NOTE: For ease of reference any capitalised terms used but not defined hereinafter, shall have the meaning ascribed to such term under the All-India Services (Performance Appraisal Report) Rules, 2007.]

1. Leave granted.

2. The present appeal preferred by the State of Haryana seeks to assail the correctness of an order dated 18.03.2019 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana (the “High Court”) in a writ petition bearing number CWP 317 of 2019 (O&M) wherein the High Court set aside an order dated 03.12.2018 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh (the “CAT”) and, accordingly (i) expunged the opinion of the Accepting Authority; and (ii) restored (a) the opinion of the Reviewing Authority; and (b) the grade awarded by the Reviewing Authority i.e., 9.92 qua Respondent No. 1’s performance appraisal report under the provisions of the All India Services (Performance Appraisal Report) Rules, 2007 (the “PAR Rules”) (the “Impugned Order”).

Factual Matrix

3. On 07.06.2017, Respondent No. 1 i.e., an Indian Administrative Services (“IAS”) Officer belonging to the batch of 1991 and presently holding the rank of Principal Secretary, Government of Haryana, submitted his self-appraisal form qua the annual performance appraisal report envisaged under the PAR Rules for the period commencing 08.04.2016 up until 31.03.2017 (the “PAR”).

4. Thereafter on 08.06.2017, Respondent No. 1 came to be appraised by the Reporting Authority i.e., the Chief Secretary, Government of Haryana and, accordingly came to be awarded, inter alia, an overall grade of 8.22. Subsequently on 27.06.2017, a divergent view was taken by the Reviewing Authority i.e., the Health Minister of Haryana who upgraded Respondent No. 1’s overall grade to ‘9.92’. On 31.12.2017, the Accepting Authority i.e., the Chief Minister of Haryana rejected the aforesaid and downgraded Respondent No. 1’s overall grade to ‘9’ in the PAR.

5. Aggrieved by the aforesaid, Respondent No. 1 made a representation under Rule 9(2) of the PAR Rules on 12.01.2018 seeking, inter alia, the (i) quashing of the remarks and overall grading recorded by the Accepting Authority; and (ii) restoration of remarks and overall grading awarded by the Reviewing Authority (the “Underlying Representation”).

6. Pursuant to the Underlying Representation, additional remark(s) were submitted by (i) the Reporting Authority on 5.02.2018; and (ii) the Reviewing Authority on 12.02.2018, to the Accepting Authority for further action under Rule 9(7B) of the PAR Rules. Despite the aforesaid, no decision was taken by the Accepting Authority qua the Underlying Representation.

7. Accordingly, aggrieved by the inaction vis-à-vis the Underlying Representation, Respondent No. 1 preferred an application bearing number O.A. No. 60/1058/2018 before the CAT seeking deletion of the remarks and overall grades recorded by the Accepting Authority; and restoration of the overall grades and remarks awarded by the Reviewing Authority in the PAR (the “OA”). Vide an order dated 03.12.2018, the CAT dismissed the OA relying upon Rule 5(1) of the PAR Rules read with Paragraph 9.4 of Appendix -II of the ‘General Guidelines for Filing-Up the PAR Form for IAS Officers Except the Level of Secretary or Additional Secretary or Equivalent to the Government of India’ (the “Guidelines”) (the “CAT Order”). The operative paragraph(s) of the CAT Order are reproduced as under:

“7. A co-joint reading of the aforementioned rule and guideline makes it clear that, they provide a window, by not having a barring clause on the Accepting Authority recording remarks beyond the prescribed time limit, and have actually set a date of 31st December of the year in which the financial year ended as the time limit for recording PAR. Thus, the limit fixed for writing the appraisal report by various authorities, in the Schedule 2, is the minimum or ideal period within which the remarks are required