MP to raise retirement age for govt employees to 62 yrs

BHOPAL: In a decision that is likely to have far-reaching consequences in BJP- ruled states, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday announced raising the retirement age of state government employees to 62 years from the current 60 years.

He made the announcement while speaking to reporters on Friday. He, however, did not disclose details of this decision. There are about five lakh regular government employees in the state.

Replying to a question on the Supreme Court’s order related to the promotion of state government employees.

Chouhan said, “Several state government employees are not able to get promotion due to the apex court’s order in a case related to ‘reservation in promotion’ pending with the SC. We will not allow any employee to retire without him getting his due promotion. This is why we have decided to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62 years.”

The state government had made a provision for reservation for SC/ ST employees in promotion, which was set aside by the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The state’s appeal against the order is pending in the SC with the latter ordering a status quo. This, officials said, has kept on hold promotions of state government employees.

Chouhan expressed hope that SC would decide on it within next two years.

Attacking the government, the opposition Congress said the decision was not going to help employees.

“This decision is not going to benefit employees. On the contrary, this would deprive younger officials and employees of getting a promotion. The CM should now announce an unemployment allowance of Rs 2,000 per month to the jobless educated youth of the state,” said Ajay Singh, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.

He added that the state government should address the problems of contract employees, who are staging protests.

However, political analysts point out that this may open Pandora’s box, and trigger similar demands from other BJP- ruled states.