College teachers in Chandigarh to retire at 65

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 15

Teachers of colleges under the Chandigarh Administration will retire at 65, instead of 58, as the Supreme Court today “dismissed as withdrawn” the Administration’s petition challenging a Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict in favour of the teachers.

The order came from a Bench led by Justice KM Joseph after senior counsel PS Patwalia and advocate BP Yadav submitted that the retirement age of teachers serving in government colleges under the Chandigarh Administration is 65 as prescribed under the regulations of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

Going by the 1992 Rules, the Chandigarh Administration had fixed the retirement age of faculty members of institutes such as the Government College of Art and the Government College of Architecture at 58.

Contending that the 1992 Rules did not apply to them, some aggrieved teachers had moved the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which dismissed their plea.

However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court in May ruled that the retirement age of teachers of institutes under the Administration would be 65, with an extension of five years as applicable in Central Government institutes. It had ordered the petitioners — who had been forcibly superannuated – to be taken back in service with consequential benefits.

Citing AICTE Regulations, 2010, the High Court said the age for superannuation was 65 with a provision for re-employment up to the age of 70 years. Referring to the AICTE Act, the High Court had said, “Once Parliament legislates, such Act and the rules/regulations framed thereunder, would take over the field resulting in the rules framed by the president under proviso to Article 309 seizing to operate forthwith.”

The Administration had challenged the High Court verdict and insisted that such teachers would retire at 58 as they were governed by the 1992 Rules. However, the Administration chose to withdraw its petition as the top court was not convinced with its contention.

‘Prescribed under UGC regulations’

The order came from a Bench led by Justice KM Joseph after senior counsel PS Patwalia and advocate BP Yadav submitted that the retirement age of teachers serving in government colleges under the Chandigarh Administration is 65 as prescribed under the regulations of the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

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