The assurance given by some ruling party or by the Chief Minister or even by the Governor does not become law of the land.
Making this observation, Telangana High Court had dismissed a batch of writ petitions seeking a direction to State government to fix December 31, 2020 instead of March 30, 2021 as the cut-off date for enhancement of retirement age from 58 years to 61 years. A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice A. Rajesheker Reddy, delivering the judgement, remarked that enactment of law is the domain of Legislature.
The bench said that fixation of cut-off date for enhancement of superannuation age did not require interference by the court. The fixation of cut-off date always leaves a large number of employees unsatisfied. “The petitioners have not been able to establish before this court as to how the fixation of cut-off date was discriminatory, arbitrary or violative of Articles 14, 16 and 21 of the Constitution,” the bench noted.
Thirty three retired State government employees filed separate writ petitions seeking to declare the GO Ms No. 45 which fixed March 30, 2021 as cut-off date for government employees for enhancement of retirement age from 58 years to 61 years. They stated that ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party in 2018 elections promised to enhance retirement age from 58 years to 61 years.
The petitioners also claimed that the Governor during the Republic Day speech this year assured about increasing retirement age. They contended that First Pay Revision Commission of Telangana, in its report presented on December 31, 2020, mentioned about enhancement of retirement age from 58 years to 61 years.
While the government granted higher pay scales (resulting in increase in salaries) as per the Commission’s report, it did not consider the suggestion about increasing retirement age at that point of time. Eventually, the government amended the Telangana Public Employment (Regulation of Age of Superannuation) Act-1984 through GO Ms No. 45.
