The Hindu : New Delhi News : Centre not to raise retirement age

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Monday, Nov 17, 2008
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Centre not to raise retirement age

NEW DELHI: Putting an end to speculation, the Centre has made it clear that it has no plans to raise the age of retirement for Central government employees.

“No, there is no such plan. There is no thinking [in this regard] at all. The status quo will continue,” Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar told PTI when asked whether there was any move in this regard. Currently, the retirement age is 60.

Mr. Chandrasekhar said there have been rumours that it would be raised but it was nothing but “wishful thinking.” “I tried to find out. But there is no file in (Department of) Expenditure, no file in DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training). There is nothing. It is more of a wishful thinking,” he said in an interview.

The Cabinet Secretary also said the government had no plans to bring uniformity in the retirement age among State government employees.

“The States will decide their own retirement age,” he said.

States have their own retirement age – starting from 55 years (Kerala) to 60 years (Uttar Pradesh and Assam). The Madhya Pradesh government teachers retire at 62.

Asked whether the government would resort to job cuts or stop recruitment like the private sector in the wake of the global financial crisis, the Cabinet Secretary made it clear that no such step would be taken. On corruption, Mr. Chandrasekhar admitted that it did take place and said it happened because of crisis in certain areas.

“I think corruption does take place. Not only in India, but in many parts of the world. It is an unfortunate thing. Corruption takes place mainly because of shortage in certain areas,” he said. -- PTI

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