Time appears to be running out for the United Democratic Front (UDF) government to take a call on raising the retirement age of its employees and teachers to 56 years and a decision on the issue seems likely sooner than many expect.
“With the unification of retirement date as March 31 for teachers and State service employees by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, the retirement age has been practically raised to 56 years for a very large majority of the employees, but this is a sensitive issue which calls for a political decision,” Finance Minister K.M. Mani told The Hindu here. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy also spoke along the same lines when a question was posed to him during his media briefing after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
The government has obvious difficulties in taking a decision to raise the retirement age, the most important of these being the strong protest to any such move from youth organisations. A Cabinet sub-committee has been constituted to interact with both employees' organisations, who are pressing for raise in retirement age, and youth organisations. The committee, of which Mr. Mani is a key member, is expected to place its report before the Cabinet soon for a decision. Before that, the recommendation of the sub-committee will also be taken up for discussion in the United Democratic Front (UDF).
Non-committal
Mr. Mani was non-committal on Wednesday when asked what the Cabinet sub-committee's recommendation would be. But he said the unification of retirement date to March end had given rise to some difficulties for the State government.
When those retiring during the course of an entire year retire from service on the same date, there is a sudden vacuum in the government. The system may take a few months to fall back on track and that amounts to upsetting the rhythm in governance.
The unification of retirement date had also clogged the career-end promotion chances of many employees since the posts above theirs may not fall vacant until the financial year ends when they too may retire from service.
Also, the government will be called upon all at once to find resources to pay the retirement benefits to a very large number of retiring employees. Doing it at one go is not the same as spreading out the commitments over a period of 12 months.
