The cabinet sub-committee of Haryana government is unlikely to recommend raising the retirement age to 60 years from the current 58 years for all government employees in the state.
The committee is likely to leave it on the departments concerned to raise the “need-based” retirement age. This may be done for only for those departments which face staff crunch for certain posts and the percentage of retiring employees is high in comparison to recruitment.
The committee headed by Haryana’s Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu Tuesday discussed the issue at length. After the meeting, Abhimanyu just said, “We have made up our mind on the matter and report would be handed over to the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar soon.”
Ahead of the 2014 polls, the then Bhupinder Singh Hooda led-state government had decided to raise the retirement age to 60 years to woo more than 3.5 lakh employees, but a month after coming to the power, the BJP government had reversed the decision.
In February, the Haryana government constituted a three-member committee. Apart from Abhimanyu, the other two members of the committee are state’s Health Minister Anil Vij and Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Kumar Bedi.
Speaking to The Indian Express, a member of the committee confirmed they were not going to raise retirement age of employees of all departments. “The retirement age can be raised for those posts for which there is shortage of staff. We had received many representations in which it was suggested that the raising of retirement age in general would adversely affect promotions and new recruitments.”
There are more than one lakh vacancies exists in different departments in the state and about 15,000 employees retire every year, which cause adverse impact on functioning of the departments. The government had already decided to increase the retirement age of doctors’ up to 65 years. The retirement age of group D employees, blind, physically challenged and judicial officers is 60 years in the state.
Meanwhile, Hooda criticised the government for its plan to not raise the retirement age. “It’s pick-and-choose policy and injustice to the employees,” said Hooda.
Sarv Karamachari Sangh, an umbrella body of the employees unions in Haryana, has announced to stage a 24-hour-long protest at Karnal, the home town of the CM, from July 22. The retirement age 60 years for all employees is one among the main demands of the employees’ bodies.
