Government employees retirement age in this state hiked to 62 from 60

Government employees retirement age: While government staff at the central level are still struggling to get some good news on 7th Pay Commission linked fitment factor hike, their colleagues in this big state have received some really good news that will ensure they get paid for an extra 2 years of work. As many as 5 lakh regular government employees in the state are set to benefit. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan today announced that he has cleared the file that raises the current retirement age of state government employees from the current 60 years to 62 years.

Chouhan, however. much to the disappointment of the bureaucrats involved, refused to disclose any further details. As an explanation, Chouhan was quoted as saying, "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.  

Chouhan said this while he was replying to a question on the Supreme Court's order related to the promotion of state government employees. Notably, the state's appeal against the order is pending in the apex court with the latter ordering a status quo. According to officials concerned this was the reason why promotions of state government employees were held up.

The move by the Madhya Pradesh government elicited a strong reaction from the Berojgar Sena, which is an outfit of the educated unemployed. Opposing the government, its chief Akshay Hunka, said, "Chouhan has deceived 1.5-crore educated unemployed youth of Madhya Pradesh by increasing the retirement age of state government employees. This decision will harm the BJP. We will take legal recourse".