Sukhu: Cabinet to take call on raising retirement age, pension commutation

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today said that the Cabinet would take the final call on the issues of increasing the retirement age of employees and the commutation of their pension.

“The Cabinet Sub-committee on Resource Mobilisation has recommended to the state government to rethink on the issue of pension commutation, as 40 per cent of the pension is given to an employee on superannuation,” he said while talking to mediapersons here. The Cabinet Sub-committee on Resource Mobilisation, headed by Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, has made these recommendations to improve the financial health of the state.

Sukhu said, “I very well understand the importance of pension and its commutation for a retired employee, as it is with this amount he builds his house and lives the remaining life. Today, 1,500 employees retired and the file regarding their pension commutation was put before me. I decided that they should get the commuted pension. I admit that the financial health of the state is not very good but at the same time, we have to look at the whole issue from the perspective of the employees and their interests.”

The Chief Minister said that it was for the Cabinet to take the decision to increase the retirement age of employees. “The Cabinet will take a decision considering the fact that it does not adversely impact the employment opportunities of the jobless educated youth,” he added.

He said that the decision on pension commutation would be taken after seeking the suggestions of the employees. “I need some time to decide on these issues concerning the employees and eventually the Cabinet will take the final call,” he added.

Sukhu said that the government was also looking into the issue of creating more employment avenues for the youth and efforts were being made in this direction.