To facilitate easy monitoring of vacancies and bring in more transparency, the Centre has put in place an electronic system to process government appointments made by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC).
All senior-level appointments, including that of secretaries, and board-level appointments in Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), among others, are made by the three- member ACC.
ACC, which is headed by the Prime Minister, has the Home Minister and the minister in-charge of the particular ministry to which the appointments need to be approved, as members.
No proposal will be considered by ACC unless it is routed through the ACC Vacancy Monitoring System (AVMS), the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has said in a communication to all central government department secretaries.
AVMS was implemented as part of the ACC Proposal Monitoring System (APMS) to ensure proper monitoring and updating of information regarding government vacancies.
"It has been observed that the software has fallen into disuse as the relevant information is not being updated regularly by the ministries or departments. As a result, the latest incumbency or vacancy position reflected in the reports generated by AVMS is factually incorrect.
"In the case of some ministries, even the change in nodal officers has not been updated in the AVMS," the DoPT said.
A nodal officer in each ministry is responsible for ensuring that the information related to vacancies, for which ACC approval is required, is updated in the AVMS.
"As part of the 100-days agenda of the new government and with a view to facilitating the monitoring of vacancies, it has been decided to revive and fully operationalise the AVMS in the next 60 days," the office memorandum said.
DoPT has asked all departments to send it the updated information on nodal officers. These officers have been asked to update the latest incumbency or vacancies and submit a list regarding the same to DoPT by June 21.
"It may be noted that no proposal for consideration of ACC shall be accepted for processing in the ACC Secretariat from July 15, 2014, onwards unless it is accompanied by the relevant updated vacancy statement downloaded from AVMS and signed by the designated nodal officer," it said.
Meanwhile, in a relevant development, the Prime Minister has decided to re-constitute the ACC.
