Timely Submission of Representation on Discloser of APARs in SPARROW – Strict Adherence to 15-Days Time Limit: Railway Board Order dated 19.08.2025
Government of India
Ministry of Railways
(Railway Board)
No. 2025/CRB&CEO-CC/03/12
New Delhi, Dated 19.08.2025
To,
General Managers
Zonal Railways, PUs
DG/RDSO, DG/NAIR
Director/CTIs
MDs/CMDs of PSUs etc
Sub: Timely Submission of Representation on Discloser of APARs in SPARROW – Strict Adherence to 15-Days Time Limit – reg.
Ref: DOP&T’s No. 21011/1/2005-Estt (A) (Pt-II) dated 14.05.2009.
Kind attention is invited to the instructions issued by DoP&T referred to above, which stipulate that an officer shall be given an opportunity to submit a representation against the entries and final grading recorded in the APAR within fifteen (15) days from the date of receipt/disclosure of the report.
2. It has been observed in several instances that after the APARs disclosed to the officers on the SPARROW portal, the officers neither views the APAR nor takes any further action such as accepting or submitting a representation within the stipulated time. Consequently, such APARs are automatically closed at the disclosure stage at the time of auto-closure of APAR process for that year, without any response from the officer. In some case, officers submit representation after closure of APAR process on SPARROW portal. Officers may therefore be sensitized to monitor their APAR status regularly and take timely action upon disclosure to avoid such situations.
3. In this regard, a new feature has been implemented in the SPARROW portal effective from the APAR year 2024–25 onwards. Under this feature, the option to submit a representation will be available only for 15 days from the date of APAR disclosure. Upon the expiry of this 15-day period, the system will automatically disable the representation feature, and no further representations shall be permitted on the SPARROW portal, irrespective of whether the officer has viewed the APAR or not.
4. It is therefore requested that all officers under your jurisdiction may be duly apprised of the above provision. Officers should be advised to regularly track the status of their APARs through the SPARROW portal under the tab ‘User Assistance → Track your PAR’. Upon disclosure of their APAR, any representation, if desired, must be submitted within 15 days from the date of such disclosure.
5. Officers are also reminded that SMS and email alerts regarding APAR movement are being sent to their registered mobile number/email ID. In case of non-receipt of such alerts, they may contact the concerned APAR custodian for updating their contact details in the system.
6. Representations received after the 15-days will be treated as time-barred. Such time-barred representations shall be processed manually in accordance with the instructions contained in Board’s letter No. 2018/SCC/03/10 dated 23.04.2018.
7. Railway/PUs, CTIs, PSUs etc. are requested to bring to the notice of all the offices under them for strict implementation of the above instructions.
Sd/-
(Subnanto Bhadra)
Deputy Secretary (Conf)-II
Room No.144 A
Tel. 011-47845578
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