Scorecard for IAS officers: Union Secretaries to face negative marking in major performance-linked reform

In a landmark step, the Government of India launched a comprehensive scorecard to transform the accountability of civil servants. The shift put forward by the Cabinet Secretariat, introduced a quantitative evaluation where merit and lapse will be judged on well-defined criteria compared to the earlier method of subjective assessment.

The top government officers will be awarded marks out of a hundred on dozens of parameters and will also have a provision of negative marks and discretionary marks, the Indian Express reported.

Among the evaluation parameters, file disposal carries the highest weightage at 20 marks, followed by output and activities, and expenditure on schemes and capital projects, each allotted 15 marks. Other criteria include public grievance redressal, preparation of Cabinet notes, timely completion of projects monitored by the Project Monitoring Group (PMG), and prompt clearance of bills by the Pay and Accounts Office (PAO) and the Chief Controller of Accounts (CCA) (see chart).

The report card carries 12 negative marks, which can be awarded for excessive spending on foreign visits or events. Longer pendency of files at the level of the secretary and above level and delayed payments to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. 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.

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These measures are introduced after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on multiple occasions emphasised the need to remove delays at various levels of government, according to the Indian Express report.

Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan has sent the first set of administrative report cards for September, October and November 2025 to the Secretaries in January 2026.

Introduction of objective evaluation is expected to fast-track the process of acquiring permissions, grants and other such licenses for citizens, business and startups. It is also likely to incentivise the beurocracy which is considered the Iron Frame, to be more innovative and agile in finding solutions.