No plan to increase retirement age of govt employees: Centre

Central government employees arein for a disappointment as the Centre is at present not considering any move to raise the retirement age to 62 years.

Central government employees arein for a disappointment as the Centre is at present not considering any move to raise the retirement age to 62 years.

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A senior official in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, which acts as nodal department for personnel matters, said there was no such proposal to increase the age for superannuation of government employees.

"There is no proposal to increase the retirement age to 62 from 60 years. The Ministry is not working on any such proposal," the official said.

Recent media reports claimed that the Ministry has written to Prime Minister's Office for raising the retirement age and sought the Union Cabinet's nod for the purpose.

There are about 50 lakh central government employees working in various departments across the country.

Officials in the Ministry said increasing retirement age requires a detailed consultation with all stake holders and discussion with the Finance Ministry.

Without the Finance Ministry's permission, the matter cannot not be processed, they said.

At a time when government is working on austerity drive by cutting expenditure and putting in efforts to rein in current account deficit (CAD), the move to increase retirement age will also burden the exchequer's kitty, they said.

The CAD, which is the difference between the inflow and outflow of foreign currency, had touched a record high of 6.7 per cent in the October-December quarter of 2012-13 on the back of rising oil and gold imports.

The retirement age for a majority of central government employees is 60 years. However, the age for retirement in case of teachers and scientists is 62 years.

The age of superannuation in states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Assam is also 60 years.

In a related news, the government has decided to further increase the retirement age of specialists in scientific and medical fields (scientists) to 64 years.

"A Committee has been formed under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the purpose," said another Personnel Ministry official.