Retirement Age For Govt Staff May Go Up

The Railway Budget for 1997-98 gives a strong indication that the government is likely to accept the Fifth Pay Commissions recommendation to increase the retirement age of government employees from 58 years to 60 years.

Under the appropriation to pension fund, the budget has provided for a sum of Rs 2,200 crore for 1997-98, as against Rs 2,700 crore provisioned in 1996-97.

The implication is that if the Pay Commissions recommendation to raise the retirement age is accepted and implemented soon, the expenditure incurred on payment of pension benefits to employees in 1997-98 would be deferred by two years.

The budget has included Rs 3,500 crore under the working expenses of the railways on account of payment of enhanced salaries and wages as a result of the Pay Commissions recommendations, even though the commissions report is still being examined by the government.

 

However, while the budget assumes enhanced payment liability on account of the wage increases recommended by the pay panel, it does not speak of the reduced liability in respect of the pension payment, which would in that case be deferred.

The budget says that the reason behind the reduction of Rs 500 crore in revenue contribution to the pension fund is the excess of Rs 300 crore in the fund which could not be drawn in 1996-97 and which is now proposed to be drawn in 1997-98.

Similarly, officials say that another outstanding amount of a little over Rs 200 crore has to be drawn from the fund.

A counter view is that the reduced amount has been so provisioned because the railways, when it was clamouring for an enhanced budgetary support from the government, was unofficially told that it would get a lot of relief after the implementation of the pay panels recommendation on retirement age extension since it had a workforce of 18 lakh.