Kerala govt revokes decision to enhance retirement age of PSU employees to 60 years

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: After coming under fire from opposition parties, the CPI(M)-led LDF government on Wednesday announced roll back of its decision to enhance the retirement age of employees of all state public sector undertakings to 60 years.

The decision to revoke the order, issued last week, was taken during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here. "The cabinet meeting decided to freeze the order enhancing the retirement age of employees of the public sector undertakings to 60 years. Further action will be decided later," a CMO statement said here. The Vijayan government's announcement came at a time when the opposition Congress and BJP and various organisations including the left outfit like the All India Youth Federation (AIYF), expressed strong resentment alleging it was "betrayal" of the youth of the state.

Terming the government's latest decision as a "victory of the opposition", Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan urged the government to withdraw the order completely. "The move to enhance the retirement age was wrong and done without considering the social circumstances and the uncertainty prevailing in the employment sector," he told reporters here.

Taking a dig at CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP A A Rahim, he said when the youth of the state were protesting against unemployment, he was going to New Delhi to stage protest asking where the job is. The controversial order to enhance the retirement age of state PSUs was issued on Saturday based on the recommendations of an expert committee, which conducted a comprehensive study on the formulation of a common framework for pay/ wage structure of PSUs in the state except Kerala State Electricity Board, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation and Kerala Water Authority.

The expert committee had recommended enhancement of the retirement age of employees of all state PSUs uniformly to 60 as in the case of central PSUs. The opposition Congress and BJP had warned of state-wide agitations against the decision and urged the government to withdraw it at the earliest. The move did not go well even with the state leadership of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth outfit of the CPI(M). PTI LGK ROH ROH