Kerala CM rules out raising retirement age of govt workers

trivandrum — Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday told the state assembly that he has no plans to increase the retirement age of state government employees.

He made the remarks while replying to a leave for an adjournment motion moved by Congress legislator V.T. Balaram, who expressed fears that the Vijayan government was trying to first increase the retirement age of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) employees from 56 to 60 years with all other government departments following suit gradually.

“We have not started any discussions or even considered to raise the age of state government employees... It won’t happen at all,” said Vijayan.

Till the beginning of the 2013 fiscal, the general norm in Kerala for retirement was 55 years and in all state-run educational institutions anyone turning 55 years after July 1 was allowed to continue till the end of that academic year.

Vijayan clarified that the confusion arose after a one-man committee appointed by Sushil Khanna (IIM-Calcutta faculty) had submitted a report on various schemes on the way the KSRTC could be revived and taken forward.

“The report states that if the retirement age of KSRTC is raised from 56 to 60, there will be a savings of Rs4.5 billion and this money could be utilised to create a corpus fund which would be able to pay the pension on time,” Vijayan added but kept mum if the retirement age of KSRTC employees would be raised.

The KSRTC is going through tough times financially and has an accumulated loss of Rs79.66 billion. Around 49,000 pensioners got their pension after a gap of six months. —