UP IAS Association has demanded transparency in the process of the empanelment of officers for the post of additional secretary at the Centre. The executive committee of the association, which met on Saturday on the concluding day of the annual 'IAS Week’ adopted a resolution saying the process of empanelment was not transparent and officers were in the dark as to why their name was rejected or not considered for empanelment for posting as additional secretary.

Earlier, the appraisal of officers was done on the basis of the annual confidential report and what mattered was the opinion of the boss about the officer. The empanelment committees would select civil servants for top jobs based on their annual progress reports or confidentiality reports. These reports were generated by just one person: the immediate boss of the officer under review.

Narendra Modi government had introduced the 360-degree feedback tool for officers on the threshold of becoming additional secretaries or secretaries in 20217. Under the 360-degree feedback tool for the selection of officers, it also matters what your subordinates think of the officer and stakeholders. The aim of the new policy was to bring in behavioural changes and enable better assessment of each officer. The 360-degree review policy caused a stir in the bureaucracy as the view of the boss or the ACR ceased to be the sole criterion for empanelment as additional secretary.

The association also demanded that young IAS officers should also be considered for posting as municipal commissioners in Nagar Nigam.  The association in another resolution demanded that both the husband and wife be made eligible for availing 730 days' leave for the child care as approved by the department of Personnel and Training. The resolution said child care was not the sole responsibility of the mother. Presently, only women IAS officers are entitled for 730 days' child care leave.

Meanwhile, in the election of office-bearers of the association, Pravir Kumar, chairman of the Board of Revenue, and Alok Kumar, Food Commissioner, have been re-elected as the president and the secretary of the association respectively. Pranjal Yadav, Arvind Singh and Anand Singh were elected as joint secretaries and Pankaj Kumar as the treasurer of the association.