LAHORE: The assistant commissioners serving across Punjab have shown their distrust of the newly-introduced mobile phone app launched by Additional Chief Secretary Irum Bukhari aimed at monitoring their performance.

They say the app should be scrapped as “it is not only time and energy-inefficient but also counterproductive”.

On the other hand, Ms Bukhari claims that the app has started yielding positive results and the objectives it has been created for are being achieved.

The assistant commissioners have expressed concerns about the promotion of the app being done with a tagline of ‘eliminating corruption’ that was tantamount to giving a message that it has been launched to check ACs’ corruption and not performance.

Officers feel reluctant to use it; Addl CS claims getting positive results

In a letter addressed to the additional chief secretary, they have stated that the application made the error of standardising the ACs’ performance and they are feeling reluctant to use it.

“With the job description of an AC often touted as being related to everything under the sky, it is far too convenient but impractical to place the activities in neat boxes and judge accordingly,” the letter states.

They say no two assistant commissioners work in the same environment and dynamics, explaining that “Some are administrators of the local bodies, while some also have the additional charge of District Monitoring Officers. Some have towering revenue targets, while others may have negligible revenue work. Some may have to grapple on a daily basis with the toxic political dynamics of their regions, while others may similarly be engaged with the lawyers. Some tehsils teem with huge commercial activities, while others may only contend with environmental issues. Some may have an environment that is more conducive to work than others and so on”.

The ACs say responsibilities and the focus of different officers are bound to vary immensely according to their posting. Each and every AC’s performance may be evaluated at individual level but ranking or comparing them would not be an authentic indicator of anyone’s performance level. Since there is no standardisation of work, any attempt to standardise the evaluation of work may just prove to be an exercise in futility, they assert.

The assistant commissioners state that the categories listed in the android application comprise six performance areas and some of them are not their exclusive domain.

“Interestingly, the revenue cases, a core function of the ACs that remains only his domain, do not find any space in the application,” the letter reads. Instead, the categories of fixation of prices (a task handed over to the agriculture department after dissolution of market committees) and checking of prices (an AC is only one among the many price magistrates in any district) have been inserted, thereby, holding an AC solely accountable for these tasks. Many of these activities are already being done by the ACs but on the instructions of a deputy commissioner concerned. They say that it is not humanly possible for one person to carry out all these activities on a daily basis, with live updating of the application, and maintaining efficiency all the while.

The officers assert that there is a lot more that an AC does that this application (or any application, for that matter) will be unable to assess. The best judge of an AC’s performance can only be his DC, who is his/her reporting officer and is cognizant with the peculiar dynamics of the district.

The ACs say that specific suggestions with respect to development of key performance indicators (KPIs) and creation of an App can be given, if asked, because no one can deny the need of introducing performance-based evaluations.

Suggesting the ways to improve public service delivery, they have listed several problems that are hindering their performance that include immense shortage of revenue and office staff, lack of funds and resources, tenure guarantee, security issues, collaboration with the allied departments, performance based pay, judicial tribulations etc.

The ACs have also referred to their maiden meeting with the ACS through video-link on January 20, wherein they explained their problems, and come up to say that no palpable progress has been made on any of the fronts mentioned.

When contacted, ACS Ms Bukhari said all technical issues in the mobile application would be resolved over time. “An online meeting of all Punjab ACs has been held on Thursday and App-related issues discussed with the representatives of PITB, ACS office and information department,” she stated.

Ms Bukhari also claimed that the App had begun yielding positive results. Within a week of the launch, she stated the number of ACs visits had increased significantly. She said the location of ACs could be seen on map, when they were visiting for price checking, pricing of essentials commodities, to inspect the land record center, land revenue collection and retrieval of state land and added that the App was a concrete step towards digitalization.

The app was launched on Feb 19 with the claims that through the app performance of ACs with regard to various performance indicators related to general administrative matters, land administration and provision of facilities to the public in all tehsils would be monitored directly in the office of the ACS Punjab.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2021