In a landmark development, the Union Government has introduced a unique system of performance-linked reform to assess the performance of top-ranking civil servants working with the central government. According to a media report, the new system introduces a comprehensive scorecard through which the top government officers will be awarded marks out of a hundred. The accountability of civil servants will be judged on dozens of parameters and there will also be a provision of discretionary and negative marking.
The report says that the new system has been devised to replace the earlier method of subjective assessment with a quantitative evaluation where merit and lapse will be judged on well-defined criteria.
The move is virtually aimed at incentivising the bureaucracy, often called the Iron Frame, to be more innovative and agile in finding solutions.
According to that report, file disposal carries the highest weightage of 20 marks in the evaluation parameters. It is followed by output and activities, and expenditure on schemes and capital projects, each allotted 15 marks. Other criteria involve preparation of Cabinet notes, timely completion of projects monitored by the Project Monitoring Group (PMG), public grievance redressal, and prompt clearance of bills by the Pay and Accounts Office (PAO) and the Chief Controller of Accounts (CCA).
The report card carries 12 negative marks. Excessive spending on foreign visits or events will invite negative marking. Similarly, longer pendency of files at the level of the secretary and above and delayed payments to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) will also bring negative marks. The discretionary marks have a provision of 5 marks, which a Cabinet Secretary can award for exceptional work or contribution made by a secretary or department.
This new system of objective evaluation is expected to fast-track the process of acquiring permissions, grants, and other such licenses for citizens, businesses, and startups.
The report says that these measures were devised after Prime Minister Narendra Modi often emphasised the need to remove delays at various levels of government.
The seriousness of this move can be understood by the fact that Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan has already sent the first set of administrative report cards for September, October, and November 2025 to the Secretaries in January 2026.
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