Deliveries of public services, development, credibility of the institutions and accessibilities to basic amenities of life are all the hallmarks of governance. Though systems of governance are in place in Jammu and Kashmir but the delivery of services has not improved the way it should have improved to the entire satisfaction of the people during several decades of popular rule in Jammu & Kashmir. Since change in the process of the delivery of public services also changes the perception of the people about the working of the government it is for public functionaries to raise the standards of the delivery of public services both in urban and rural parts of Jammu & Kashmir. Unfortunately public functionaries directly discharging the responsibilities of the basic systems of governance including the delivery of public services are not held accountable for the lapses even in the delivery of routine public services in Jammu & Kashmir. So unless and until the lapses in the systems of governance are not identified and corrective measures are not proposed for immediate implementation on ground the dreams of a perceptible change in the delivery of public services won’t come true. Heavy spending on delivery of services demands accountability to the extent that every department connected with the delivery of services puts into public domain an annual report cart. No report card is sought from any department and as such the question of seeking responses from the people on the report cards about execution of public services by the concerned departments does not arise at all.
Since no system of governance can be improved in absence of a performance appraisal system the introduction of the performance appraisal system in the government departments and particularly those connected with the delivery of public services assumes paramount importance.
So when during decades of popular rule in Jammu & Kashmir no performance appraisal system was not put into place how come the public functionaries discharging the responsibilities of delivery of public services can be held accountable for the lapses in the delivery of public services? Without a performance appraisal system the old ways of running the governance systems including the delivery of public services can’t be changed and consequently the working of government departments connected with the delivery of public services can’t be also changed for the purposes of greater accountability. For the purposes of improving the systems of governance particularly the delivery of public services the introduction of performance appraisal system for fixing the responsibility on non performers is both inevitable and also unavoidable. Since no system of governance can be improved in absence of a performance appraisal system the introduction of the performance appraisal system in the government departments and particularly those connected with the delivery of public services assumes paramount importance.
