By IANS,
Chandigarh: The Punjab cabinet Saturday unanimously decided not to enhance the retirement age of government employees from 58 to 60 years.
A decision to this effect was taken here at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
The meeting also gave in-principle approval to increase the age for entry into government service from 35 to 37 years.
A spokesman of the Punjab government said after the meeting that the age of retirement remained unchanged at 58 years.
In January, the Punjab government gave an offer to government staff retiring this year to seek extension in service for one year.
The move followed the recommendation by a committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, the chief minister’s son, and Industries Minister Manoranjan Kalia, that retirement age be increased to 60 years for all government staff.
However, the Badal government allowed staff retiring between Jan 22 – the date of the notification of the extension offer – to December 31, to seek extension in service for one year.
The order of the government was quashed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court this week.
The high court order came on a petition of district development and panchayat official Kuldeep Singh, who claimed the new order was unconstitutional as it would affect his and others’ service and promotion entitlement.
A bench of the high court, comprising Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel and Justice Alok Singh, Monday said the Punjab government order was “unsustainable”.
The order stated that the employees who had already availed benefit under the state government order allowing extension of one year in service, would not be affected by the order. The high court said no one could now be extended the benefit.
However, following the high court order, the Punjab government asked all employees who had availed of the extension order not to report for duty from April 1.