Now a big update has come out on the retirement of the employees. Once again the retirement age of the employees may be increased by 2 years. For this, the proposal has been sent back to the state government by the High Court for consideration. With the approval of the proposal by the state government, the retirement age of the employees can be increased up to 58 years.
Employees Retirement Age Hike: There is big news for the employees. The demand for retirement age of the employees has intensified. Objecting to the state’s rejection of the proposal to increase the retirement age, the High Court has given important instructions. The proposal has been sent back to the state government in case of a new decision in the Chief Justice’s proposal on Thursday.
Proposal to increase retirement age from 56 to 58 years
In fact, proposals were made to increase the retirement age of employees from 56 to 58 years in Kerala. This was rejected by the state. Taking objection to which the Kerala High Court on Thursday sent it back to the state government for a new decision on the proposal of the Chief Justice, which said that the increase in the retirement age of meritorious employees should be considered once again.
The Registrar General of the High Court had on 25 October 2022 sent the proposal of the Chief Justice to increase the retirement age of the staff members of the High Court from 56 years to 58 years. The proposal was sent after a high-level meeting between the Chief Justice and the Chief Minister of the state on 24 September 2022.
Government’s plea
In this matter, the Additional Chief Secretary of the Government had sent a reply in this matter to the High Court in February. Informed about the inability to accept the HC’s proposal that the retirement age of High Court employees was fixed at par with that of government employees. The same state said that no decision has been taken to increase the retirement age of government servants. Therefore, the Government will not be able to favorably consider the proposal of the Chief Justice.
HC instructions
In this case, a division bench of Justice Mohammad Mustaque and Justice Sophie Thomas of the High Court has observed that the request of the Chief Justice can only be considered as an offer of favorable consideration to initiate amendment of the law with regard to retirement. . At the same time, it is in our power to instruct the government to take steps to amend the law related to retirement age, but the proposal cannot be directly rejected by the government citing employees in retirement age.
The court has made it clear that when the Chief Justice of the High Court sends the proposal, the aspects related to the subject are expected to be discussed and considered at a higher level. The various institutions of the State need to be coordinated in their efforts to achieve the best in the larger interest of the institution.
In the matter, the court has observed Article 229 of the Constitution. In this case it is said that the provision gives primacy to the Chief Justice in the matter of appointment of officers and servants of the High Court. In this case, the service condition of the employees comes under the laws made by the government under the State Legislature.
Recommendation to increase the retirement age
At the same time, the court has found that the sub-committee constituted by the Chief Justice has considered the matter in detail and has recommended to increase the retirement age of meritorious employees. The court has observed that it would be in the best interest of the administration of the institution to consider suggesting increments to the meritorious employees.
The same High Court, while disposing of the writ petitions, has said that on the basis of logic, the proposal has been removed during state-wide consideration. We are once again sending back the proposal to increase the retirement age of meritorious employees beyond the age of 56 years to the Government for consideration. Overall, we hope that the government will consider this proposal as soon as possible.
