Central workers to retire at 62? - TEAM HERALDJune 11, 2013
NEW DELHI: A move is afoot to raise the retirement age of over five million central government employees from 60 to 62 years, citing the longer span of life enabling most to be fit to work, though ostensibly it may be keeping an eye on the Delhi Assembly elections due in November to influence over 80 per cent of them living in the capital.
The Ministry of Personnel and Training has forwarded a proposal in this regard to the Prime Minister's office (PMO) for inclusion in the agenda of the Cabinet for consideration, after securing consent of various ministries, sources said, claiming that it has an approval of the finance ministry. The decision will help immensely those on the verge of retirement to continue in service for two years.
The High Court judges already enjoy tenure up to 62 while the retirement age of the Supreme Court judges and the Election Commissioners is 65. The retirement age has also been raised to 62 in case of some key posts. It is already 62 years in case of the employees of the Madhya Pradesh government.
This will be the third time that the retirement age of the central staff is being raised and it is bound to have the cascading effect on the states coming under pressure from the employees' associations to follow suit.
It was raised from 55 to 58 by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 after the war with China and then to 60 years by the then NDA government in 1998 on the recommendation of the central pay commission.
The central staff is already quite happy with the government for getting as much as 80 per cent of the basic pay as the dearness allowance, thanks to the last hike of 8 per cent announced in April with retrospective effect from January 1. Just before the polls, they may get yet another DA hike as the pay commission recommendation accepted by the government mandates revision twice a year to match the rise or fall in the consumer price index of the industrial workers.
