In a significant development, a Parliamentary Committee has asked the Union Government to examine expanding the 360-degree empanelment process for all central services officers, instead of only IAS officers. The Committee, in its report submitted on Monday, asked the government to examine the feasibility of institutionalising a structured 360-degree review mechanism for empanelment for Joint Secretary and other higher posts under the Union Government.
This issue has been raised in the 160th report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice on Demands for Grants (2026-27) pertaining to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
The panel has advocated that this approach would bring parity in evaluation standards across services, strengthen merit-based selection at senior levels, and enhance confidence in the objectivity and robustness of the empanelment process.
Under the current situation, the IAS officers are empanelled for appointment at the Joint Secretary level at the central government through a structured process conducted by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT).
This process involves evaluation of officers on the basis of their service records, annual performance appraisal reports (APARs), vigilance status, and overall career profile.
According to the panel report, over the past several years, the empanelment process for IAS officers has incorporated a 360-degree assessment mechanism, under which multi-source feedback is obtained from senior officers, peers and other stakeholders who have worked with the officer concerned.
This process supplements formal performance records with qualitative inputs regarding leadership qualities, domain expertise, integrity, decision-making capacity, and overall suitability for senior policy-making roles in the Government of India.
The panel said that it is of the view that the principles underlying the assessment mechanism, namely holistic evaluation, multi-source feedback, and qualitative assessment of leadership attributes, are relevant not only for IAS officers but also for officers from other services considered for empanelment as Joint Secretaries and other higher posts in the Govt. of India.
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