The Sixth Pay Commission for central government employees will not recommend raising the retirement age.
"No," finance minister P. Chidambaram said today when asked whether the age, now at 60 years, would be increased.
The minister, speaking at a conference of economic editors today, said the commission's report would be handed in by April. Former Supreme Court judge B.N. Srikrishna, who authored the report on the 1993 communal riots in Mumbai, is heading the pay commission.
The blow to hopes of a higher retirement age comes days after Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia argued against revision of salaries by the commission.
"There is no case for a pay increase now because erosion of income (because of inflation) is taken care of by indexation (dearness allowance)," Ahluwalia had said.
Earlier, the Eleventh Plan (2007-12) document had warned of problems for government finances if the pay hikes were not capped. "With the commission's impact looming, hard-won gains on the fiscal front could be jeopardised."
Source : The Telegraph