National

Centre not to raise retirement age

NEW DELHI: The Centre has made it clear that it has no plans to raise the age of retirement for Central government employees.

“No, there is no such plan. There is no thinking [in this regard] at all. The status quo will continue,” Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar told PTI. Currently, the retirement age is 60.

Mr. Chandrasekhar said there have been rumours that it would be raised but these were nothing but “wishful thinking.”

“I tried to find out. But there is no file in (Department of) Expenditure, no file in DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training). There is nothing,” he said in an interview.

The Cabinet Secretary also said the government had no plans to bring uniformity in the retirement age among State government employees.

States have their own retirement age – starting from 55 years (Kerala) to 60 years (Uttar Pradesh and Assam). The Madhya Pradesh government teachers retire at 62.

Asked whether the government would resort to job cuts or stop recruitment like the private sector did in the wake of the global financial crisis, the Cabinet Secretary made it clear that no such step would be taken.

On corruption, Mr. Chandrasekhar admitted that it did take place.

“I think corruption does take place. Not only in India, but in many parts of the world. It is an unfortunate thing. Corruption takes place mainly because of shortage in certain areas,” he said. – PTI

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