India's defence and security establishment has decided to go for common annual confidential reports for all senior officers of the armed forces soon, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
They said the decision is largely in sync with the government's plan on theaterisation process that is aimed at bringing in jointness among the three services.
At present, the selection system for officers for posting in combined or tri-services positions is based on parent service-specific parameters.
"Recent cross-services postings of a large number of officers was one such step," one of the persons cited above said.
"Furthermore, over a period of time, employment of officers in tri-services organisations and environments will only increase as the armed forces progress towards joint structures and organisations," the person said.
"As a result of this, a need was felt to synergise the appraisal system for undertaking the tasks in tri-services appointments which have been identified in the armed forces," he said.
The people cited above said the common annual confidential reports for senior armed forces officers will begin from this year.
Initially, common confidential reports (CR) for two and three-star officers of armed forces have been approved to be implemented.
The implementation timeline is approximately three to four months, they said.
This reform will prove instrumental in the path towards achieving commonality in procedures, assessments and lead to better outcomes, thereby contributing to jointness and integration, they said.
"This step will lead to better identification and selection of officers for tri-services appointments in the command, staff or instructional channels, based on their suitability," the person added.