In the wake of unhappiness among ministers over the reported rating by officials, the government today said there is no evaluation of ministers' performance by the bureaucracy.
"It is not factually correct to say that the serving officers will evaluate the performance of the ministers", the Cabinet Secretariat said clarifying reports in this regard.
The objective of the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation System (PMES) was to ensure accountability of the department to the minister, who lays down the goals and targets for each period and reviews them, it said.
Recent media reports had said that at least four Congress ministers were fighting a move that appeared to give the bureaucracy an upper hand over political oversight and leadership.
"This Committee does not evaluate the performance of ministries or departments. It merely provides technical support to facilitate such evaluation by the ministers concerned," the Cabinet Secretariat said.
Observing that the assertion that the system was run by a Committee on Government Performance was not true, it said according to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's orders, the main function of this Committee was to ensure uniformity, consistency and coordinated action across various departments.
