High Court issues notice to Haryana government on reducing retirement age to 58

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued a notice to the Haryana government on a plea against the state's decision to lower the retirement age of employees to 58 years from 60. Justice Tejinder Singh Dhindsa issued notice to the state government for December 8.

The petition was filed by one Baljeet Kaur and others against the Manohar Lal Khattar government's recent decision to lower the retirement age from 60 to 58 years. The petitioner contended that the decision of the state government would affect 40,000 employees.

The previous Bhupinder Singh Hooda government had raised the retirement age of government employees in the state from 58 to 60 years, which was reverted recently after the BJP government came to power. The decision of the state government is likely to put an additional burden of Rs 200 crore on the Khattar government. The state government will now have to shell out Rs 1500 crore as benefits to the staff retiring in the two years.

Some BJP ruled states have fixed 60 years as the retirement age. The Haryana government decision has come under attack from the opposition Congress.