Gurugram: Haryana has released revised guidelines for re-employment of government staff after retirement at the age of 58, with the move being criticised for the impact it may have on fresh recruitments in the state.
The government has claimed that the purpose of the guidelines is to streamline recruitment of retired government employees and to ensure the exercise is undertaken only when unavoidable. According to the guidelines released Monday by the office of Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi, accessed by ThePrint, a special committee would be formed to screen all post-retirement employment proposals, whether for a single person or a group of similar posts—a deviation from the previous procedure for the same.
The guidelines also clarify that Haryana government posts have a retirement age of 58 years. However, in exceptional circumstances, such as when a department is in urgent need of some old employee’s services, the state government is allowed to re-employ such retired personnel. This is according to the earlier policy but the revised rules incorporate tighter checks to prevent abuse of the re-employment provision.
According to re-employment guidelines issued as far back as June and July 2018 and as recently as May 2023, there was no committee to vet proposals of post-retirement employment.
Government departments previously decided such matters internally, but now they would have to refer cases to the committee which would sit once a month. This, according to the government, is to ensure decisions are fairer, more standardised and based on actual needs, such as filling gaps in provision of vital services without hindering promotion of younger officers.
Another important distinction in the new rules is that re-employment is now strictly capped at a maximum of two years following retirement. If a department still requires the individual after two years, they’ll have to go for a contract-hire system.
Previous regulations didn’t always impose this limit so stringently, sometimes permitting longer periods for reemployment post-retirement.
Speaking to ThePrint, Shweta Dhull, a well-known recruitment activist and a Congress leader, criticised the guidelines, saying they would diminish fresh recruitments in the state.
“Lakhs of unemployed youth are awaiting employment and the government is trying to further block their chances by, in a way, delaying retirement of those having attained superannuation,” she said.
Dhull alleged that on the one hand, the Haryana government was trying to send the state’s youth to other countries for employment because of lack of opportunities back home, and on the other hand, it was not filling vacancies by fresh appointments but rather reemploying retired staff.
Referring to media reports, Dhull said National Health Mission workers in Haryana had been agitating because they had not got salaries for the past four months.
Similarly, certain employees working under the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam were complaining about delay in salary payments, she added.
“In both cases, the government claimed a lack of budget. But the question is how does it have the budget to reemploy and pay the retired staff?” she asked.
A senior officer in the Haryana government, however, told ThePrint that the re-employed staff would not be paid the full salary they used to receive before retiring.
“Emoluments for a reemployed staffer are governed by the Haryana Civil Services (Pay) Rules 2016. Their remuneration is determined by taking what would have been their present salary (had they not retired) and from that deducting their pension. This ensures that their overall income—pension plus re-employment pay—approximates what a regular employee in that position would receive, including dearness allowance on the new salary,” the officer said.
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What else do guidelines say?
The fresh guidelines set down clear dos and don’ts for Haryana government departments.
Department officials would first have to explain why the position open for re-employment of retired staff can’t be filled up by promoting juniors or recruiting fresh blood. Also, any former employee must have a clean record—no pending questions or poor performance—and the re-employment must not set back others’ career advancement.
“Departments are instructed to seek cases where services are absolutely essential, such as in specialised areas, and place a maximum age restriction of 63 years when inviting applications, so that the individual can serve for at least two years until the age of 65,” the guidelines state.
For physicians in the health and Employee’s State Insurance divisions, matters are slightly different. Their re-employment is governed by different rules released from time to time by those divisions.
According to the officer mentioned above, physicians are usually re-employed until age 65 to address hospital and clinic staff shortages, providing them with a little more time to work than general employees. This ensures the continuation of medical services, particularly in rural areas where replacements are difficult to find.
These modifications, however, don’t apply to individuals already re-employed and still serving their terms.
“The guidelines aim to balance experience with new opportunities, allowing government machinery to function smoothly without turning into a backdoor for indefinite extensions. With Haryana also experiencing staff crunch in certain areas, this policy might help fill gaps while making things transparent for the common man,” the officer said.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)