Kerala government rescinds order to hike retirement age in State-run PSUs

“The cabinet has frozen the order increasing the pension of State public sector unit employees to 60. It will decide future measures later.”

The Kerala cabinet on Wednesday put on hold the Finance Department’s contentious order increasing the retirement age in State-run public sector units to 60 years.

Strong political headwinds and severe resistance from the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) youth organisations nudged the government to rescind the move.

A terse statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office said: “The cabinet has frozen the order increasing the pension of State public sector unit employees to 60. It will decide future measures later”.

Leader of Opposition, V. D. Satheesan, described the cabinet’s decision as a half-measure to pull the wool over the public eye.

He said the government should revoke the inherently flawed order in its entirety instead of keeping the patently anti-youth decision in abeyance.

Nevertheless, Mr. Satheesan said, the government’s abrupt and dramatic reversal of its stated position was undeniably an opposition victory.

Mr. Satheeshan also pointed at a perceived dichotomy between DYFI’s agitation against unemployment in New Delhi and the left youth organisation’s muted response to the Kerala government’s order that, at a stroke, hugely whittled down the chances of lakhs of educated youth landing a government job.