ACs show distrust of app launched to 'monitor their performance'.

Byline: Mansoor Malik

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...