ISLAMABAD, May 18: The departmental promotion committee may drop a number of federal government college lecturers for promotion in its meeting to be held in the last week of May because their annual confidential reports (ACRs) are missing, it has been learnt.

The ACR is an evaluation report of subordinate staff members maintained by the principal of each institution.

This is an important document based on which promotion orders are passed. But mostly it is also called ‘annual confidential revenge’ because almost every government servant suffers red tape in getting the document completed.

According to an officer of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), 17 promotion cases (BPS-17 to BPS-18) are being prepared to submit to the Ministry of Capital Administration and Development (CAD) for consideration. But their ACRs of different years numbering over 100 sent to the joint education adviser at CAD for countersign a year back are now missing.

Among those the ACRs of Mr Atif, a lecturer at the H-8 College, for the years 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008 and that of Mohammad Habibullah, a lecture at the H-9 College, for the years 2005, 2007 and 2008 are needed to prepare their promotion cases, he said.

“All the promotion cases can be dropped if the file of even a single lecturer is incomplete. The college lecturers have been facing the situation for years. Whenever CAD asks the FDE to submit the promotion cases, the same situation arises,” he said.

Prof Tahir Mahmood, the president of the Federal Government College Teachers Association (FGCTA), said promotion brings lots of happiness and hope for a better future in the life of a government servant.

“This happiness vanishes when the government servant is intimated officially that his case cannot be forwarded for consideration because some time back one of his former principals had not submitted his ACR,” he said.

“This causes mental torture and disappointment for government employee. It is a fact that an employee is not at all responsible to submit his own ACR and even he remains unaware whether his ACRs for specified periods have been submitted by the principal concerned or not. Years later when his turn for promotion comes, he is told by the FDE to get his ACRs written and submitted,” he said.

Professor Deedar Ali Baloch, the general secretary of the FGCTA, said a new race and chain of efforts begin for the employee to locate the old retired principals (if they were alive) from their native villages and cities mostly hundreds of miles away from the capital.

“Sometimes this effort even does not prove fruitful because the employees cannot trace the man and new chain of letters from the FDE begins. On many occasions, the retired principals refuse to recognise the employee,” he said.

Tanveer Zahra, a senior vice-president of the FGCTA, added that over 100 ACRs of teachers for the years 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 were submitted to the director colleges but it could not be countersigned.

“A number of teachers whose promotion is due are running from pillar to post to get their ACRs countersigned.”

One can imagine the agony being faced by a teacher who after getting his ACR written fails to see the happiest day of his promotion because the documents are not countersigned. If these teachers in BPS-17 were promoted after May 31, they will not get the increment of BPS-18 in December because six months service is required for it, an official of the FDE said.

Prof Mehboob Ahmed, the senior vice-president of Central Academic Staff Association of Islamabad Model Colleges, maintained that the time-scale promotion formula adopted last year was not being implemented in letter and spirit.

A large number of teachers who have completed the required years for promotion are being denied their right.

He suggested that the departmental promotion committee meeting should be held biannually to address the issues.

When contacted. Director General FDE Dr Shahnaz A. Riaz said it was unfortunate that the lecturers were not getting their due rights on time.

“I have been trying to resolve the issue but it seems some officers are deliberately creating hurdles in the way of the teachers’ promotion. They want everyone to visit their office and request them to countersign the ACRs. The whole education system is suffering because of this behaviour,” she said.