Govt amends anomaly, all CAPF personnel to now retire at 60 years

All personnel working in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) will now retire at a uniform age of 60 years, a government order said on Monday.

The Union home ministry order, accessed by PTI, corrected the anomaly where personnel between the ranks of Constable to Commandant ( Senior Superintendent of Police equivalent) in four forces -- Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police force and Sashastra Seema Bal -- superannuated at the age of 57, rather than 60.

Officers from the rank of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) upto the top-most rank of Director General (DG) in these four forces retired after attaining the age of 60.

However, in two other forces of the Central Industrial Security Force and the Assam Rifles all personnel retired at the age of 60, and some officials had moved the court pointing out the anomaly among the forces that function under the uniform command of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The latest home ministry direction comes in the wake of a January order of the Delhi High Court where it had called the policy of different age of superannuation as "discriminatory and unconstitutional", and said it created two classes in the uniformed forces.

The Monday order also directed all the forces to "comply with the court order and amend provisions of rules."
These forces, after the conclusion of a series of meetings on the subject over the last few months, had recommended to the government that "in case retirement age is raised to 60 years, it may be explored if a system is put in place to make yearly assessment to weed out those who are not fit to continue in the force consistent with its objective."