Karnataka: Now, private employees can retire at 60

Bengaluru: The state cabinet on Friday decided to increase the retirement age of labourers and other employees working in the private sector to 60 years from the current 58 years, which will benefit about 21 lakh employees working in the private sector in the state.

Speaking to reporters after the cabinet meeting, a senior leader of the ruling Congress said that the draft notification in this regard was published in December 2009 itself but the final approval was given only on Friday by the state cabinet.

"This does not require any amendment in the legislature, only the existing schedule 1 of the Karnataka Industrial Employment (standing orders) rules 1961 has to be altered by bringing an amendment to enhance the present retirement age from 58 years to 60 years in private industrial establishments. With this amendment, as many as seven lakh workers working in shops and commercial establishments and about 14 lakh workers working in 4032 factories in the state will be benefitted directly," the source explained.

The leader said this was a long awaited demand of 21 lakh workers working in the state, as they had been demanding an increase in their retirement age from 58 years to 60 years ever since the Union government and state governments increased their employees’ retirement age to 60 years.

"Several trade unions both at the national and state levels had been consistently demanding uniformity in the age of retirement in all sectors by increasing it to 60 years. Although some private players including shop owners had been implementing this clause voluntarily, the state government on its part had to amend these rules to ensure parity in the age of retirement among state, Central and private employees in Karnataka," the source explained.