Punjab and Haryana HC: Single judge order on aided-college teachers’ retirement age challenged

The plea by an associate professor with Shri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector-26, a private but government-aided college, will be taken up by a division bench of Punjab and Haryana HC on Jan 4

A teacher of a Sector-26 college has approached the division bench of Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) against the December 23 order of a single judge bench on retirement age.

A teacher has approached the division bench of Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) against the December 23 order of a single judge bench on retirement age. (iStockphoto)

The plea by Gurmej Singh, an associate professor with Shri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector-26, a private but government-aided college, will be taken up by a division bench on January 4.

On December 23, a high court single judge bench had dismissed the plea observing that the University Grants Commission (UGC) order about retirement of college faculty at 65 years is not applicable to teachers working in private-aided colleges in the city.

The HC bench of justice Rajbir Sehrawat on December 23 had further said the provisions relied upon by the petitioner relates only to government colleges and technical universities under the administrative control of the union territory of Chandigarh. It has nothing to do with private-aided institutions, it added.

The teacher had challenged the December 20 order of administration which says aided-college faculty would retire at the age fixed by Punjab government i.e 60 and not at 65. The petitioner argued that on March 29, 2022, a notification by the Centre brought employees of Chandigarh under the service conditions of Centre and notification covered employees of technical universities, institutions governed by AICTE, higher educational university and institutions governed by UGC. By virtue of this notification, the retirement age of faculty governed by UGC rules have been increased from 60 to 65 years. Hence, aided-college faculty are also covered and should be allowed to continue to work till 65 years of age.

It is to be recalled that while the retirement age of teachers in technical institutes in the city has been increased from 60 to 65 years, the Panjab University (PU) faculty retires at 60, as per an HC order. The appeal against this 2016 judgment is still pending before the division bench of HC.