Kerala govt enhances retirement age of state PSU employees to 60

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The Kerala government has enhanced the retirement age of employees of most of the state PSUs uniformly to 60, drawing sharp criticism from a left-wing youth organisation.

The order was issued on Saturday based on the recommendations of an expert committee, which conducted a comprehensive study on the formulation of a common framework for pay/wage structure of PSUs in the state except Kerala State Electricity Board, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation and Kerala Water Authority.

The expert committee had recommended that the retirement age of employees of all state PSUs shall be enhanced uniformly to 60 as in the case of central PSUs.

However, this will not be applicable to those employees who have already retired in accordance with the prevailing rules.

The state leadership of the All India Youth Federation (AIYF), the youth wing of the Communist Party of India (CPI), protested against the government's decision to enhance the retirement age to 60, terming it as a move against the unemployed youth. CPI is the second largest partner in the CPI(M)-led LDF in the state.

Claiming that the government's decision was against the declared policy of the LDF, the AIYF urged the government to withdraw it and protect the rights of the youth in the state.

Meanwhile, the expert committee has broadly classified the PSUs into six sectors based on the generic nature of work carried out by them.

The six sectors include manufacturing and production, development and infrastructure, financial services, services/trading/consultancy, agriculture/plantations/livestock and traditional and welfare.

According to the report adopted by the government, the authority for approving classification of all state PSUs will be the Public Enterprises Board (PEB) and each PSU should submit a proposal for classification to the PEB.