Jagran Correspondent, Nainital. The Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, has filed an affidavit in the Central Administrative Tribunal on the issue of not paneling IFS Sanjeev Chaturvedi of Uttarakhand cadre for the post of Joint Secretary at the Centre, praying for the withdrawal of its earlier order dated October 14, in which the department was directed to place on record the 360 ​​assessment guidelines. IFS Chaturvedi advocate Sudarshan Garg said the move shows another U-turn by the centre. He said that DoPT had argued that the guidelines were under the purview of the committee and were not in the public domain. They can only be shown to the Tribunal in confidence. Garg said that in his lengthy testimony before the parliamentary committee, the DoPT secretary had already told every detail of 360 degree evaluation, why it was started, how it is done and what it looks like. Now after six years, DoPT is taking the strange stand of keeping it in a sealed lid. On 10 August 2017, the Parliamentary Committee on Justice, Department of Personnel and Training, in its 92nd report examined 360 degree evaluation, also known as multi-source feedback. The DoPT Secretary informed that for inclusion in the panel of officers of Joint Secretary level or above in the Government of India, feedback is taken from five stakeholders – senior, junior, peer, external stakeholder and Secretary, in which integrity, delivery, ability, practical ability, functional skills, domain expertise were evaluated. The Committee found the system opaque and subjective, and noted that feedback was taken informally and prone to manipulation. On October 9, 2023, DoPT changed its mind in an affidavit before CAT in Chaturvedi’s empanelment case. It was said that there is no such system in the Government of India and hence no records are available as a request in the petition was to seek records of 360 degree appraisal. On May 23, during the hearing of Chaturvedi’s second petition, DoPT’s counsel told CAT that NSF or it would not disclose documents related to Chaturvedi’s empanelment process because of the multi-source feedback provision. On October 14, on Chaturvedi’s insistence, the DoPT’s counsel presented the guidelines in a sealed cover before the tribunal. The tribunal returned it and directed the DoPT to place it on record.