Retirement age to remain 60 years?

There is raging speculation that the Centre may raise the retirement age of its staff but top sources say there is no such move.

"There is no such plan to raise the retirement age to 62 from 60 years," a reliable source in the government said. There are about 50 lakh central government employees working in various departments including the Railways across the country.

Recent media reports had claimed that the Ministry of Personnel was working on a proposal to increase the age of service by two years as part of government's plan to defer payouts in the form of pensions and other payments to check fiscal deficit. It was also speculated that the move may be timed ahead of Lok Sabha elections.

Sources in the Ministry said raising retirement age requires a detailed consultation with all stake holders and discussion with the Finance Ministry. Without the Finance Ministry's nod, the matter cannot be processed, they said. The retirement age for a majority of central government employees is 60 years. However, the age for retirement in case of teachers and scientists is 62 years.

In a related development, Chhattisgarh government has recently increased the age of retirement to 62 years from 60 for its employees. The age of superannuation varies in state governments with majority of them keeping it at 60 years. The Centre had in 1998 raised the retirement age of central government employees to 60 from 58 years.