A circular doing the rounds in the rural development ministry has sent its babus to the study table.

They are frenetically preparing for a test to be held on July 6, which, if they fail in, earns them an adverse entry in their ACR (annual confidential report).

The test is on the usage of file tracking system (FTS) that ministry is intent on launching from July 12.

With the FTS in place, the RD ministry will be second after the corporate affairs ministry, to have introduced the system.

“As already intimated there will be an FTS familiarisation and usage test for all the officers/officials and personal staff in the department between 6th July to 9th July 210. In this connection it may be noted that the officers/officials/personal staff getting less than 60% marks in the above test will get an adverse entry in their ACR/APAR,” says the circular issued by S S Prasad, under secretary to government of India to all the officials in the rural development ministry.

"The ACR clause has been added to make officials take the test seriously," said an official of the ministry.

The NIC has submitted the detailed work plan for the implementation of the FTS that will go live from July 12. The FTS has been developed to serve as a tool to enable the tracking of the location as well as the movement of any File/Receipt, besides for monitoring the pendency of the same.

According to NIC workplan it will distribute the user id and password to all the officials of the department on June 15 following which they will be trained by a dedicated team of four NIC members bewteen June 16 to June 30.

Earlier the ministry of corporate affairs became the first ministry to launch the system in February this year when Salman Khurshid, the minster of corporate affairs inaugurated the system.