Chandigarh: High court junks plea to enhance private-aided faculty’s retirement age
HC bench of justice Sureshwar Singh Thakur and justice Sudeepti Sharma observed that though the teaching faculty of government and private colleges perform similar functions, it does not mean that the private college faculty have any indefeasible right as these institutions run with a motive of profiteering
In a major decision, which will have an impact on the faculty of all private-aided colleges of Chandigarh, the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has ruled against the enhancement of retirement age to 65.
Dismissing the plea from Dr Banda Goindi, a teacher at Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, the HC bench of justice Sureshwar Singh Thakur and justice Sudeepti Sharma observed that though the teaching faculty of government and private colleges perform similar functions, it does not mean that the private college faculty have any indefeasible right as these institutions run with a motive of profiteering.
Chandigarh has seven aided private colleges -- DAV College Sector 10, MCM-DAV College, Sector 36, GGDSD College, Sector 32, GGSW College, Sector 26, Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36, and Dev Samaj Women College, Sector 45, all affiliated to Panjab University. The HC decision will have a bearing on the faculty of all these colleges.
Dr Goindi, in her plea, had demanded to raise her age of superannuation to 65, arguing that all the teaching staff of UT’s government colleges are permitted to serve till the age of 65, owing to the applicability of the March 29, 2022, notification of the central pattern of rules. Since she is a faculty of an aided college, the rules pertaining to service conditions and retirement would be the same as that of a government college teacher.
After the Central Service Rules were adopted by the UT administration in 2022, the retirement age of teachers in UT’s government colleges and Punjab Engineering College (PEC) was raised to 65.
The HC said that the service conditions of the teaching faculty of privately managed colleges are governed by the regulations of the Panjab University Calendar, whereby the age of superannuation is 60. It further said that the teaching faculty in these colleges are appointed as per the grants-in-aid scheme, which has been adopted and accepted by the educational institution concerned. As per the said condition, the grant shall not be admissible in respect of employees who are retained in service after 60 years, it added.
The petitioner also argued that in other similar cases, the HC stayed retirement orders, considering the adoption of the 2022 rules. However, the bench termed the argument “misfounded” and said that those were interim orders and, in this case, the court is making a final order, taking into account all the contentions.