The Chandigarh Administration has decided to approach Union Ministry of Home Affairs to take decision on the issue of retirement age of its employees.
The decision in this regard was taken at the meeting held under Punjab Governor and UT Administration VP Singh Badnore with senior UT officers on Monday here.
The development comes at a time when the Punjab Government has recently decided to reduce the retirement age of its State employees from 60 years to 58 years.
The Administration had recently recommended the UT Administrator that the Punjab civil service rules should be followed by the Chandigarh Administration.
UT Adviser Manoj Parida while talking to the mediapersons on Monday said that the Administration has decided to refer the issue of retirement age of UT employees to the MHA. There are two options, either we will go with Central service rules or with Punjab service rules, he said.
Till the time the Union Ministry takes a final decision on this, we will continue to follow the existing service rules, he added.
The Administration follows Punjab service rules and pay scale for its employees. While presenting Punjab Government’s budget recently, Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal had announced the reduction of retirement age of state employees to 58 years from 60. Employees who have turned 59 would retire on March 31 and those who have completed 58 but are still not 59 would retire on September 30.
If the Administration continues to follow Punjab service rules, the decision will affect a total of 590 employees. There are a total of around 24000 UT employees.
Parida said that while about 240 employees will retire on March 31, another 350 in September as per Punjab’s service rules.
At present, the retirement age for Central employees in most of the services is 60 years, though it is 65 for professors in all Central universities as also for Central Government doctors.
In Administration, the employees who turn 58, which is the retirement age, can be given two extensions of one year each.
ADVISORY COUNCIL MEET LIKELY IN APRIL FIRST WEEK
UT Adviser Manoj Parida said that if situation related to Coronavirus remains under control, a meeting of Administrator’s Advisory Council will be held in first week of April.
The agendas of allowing Apartment Act in Chandigarh and how to deal with stray dogs will be taken up at the Advisory Council meeting, he said.
Advisor said that the long pending issue of whether to allow Apartment Act in Chandigarh or not will be discussed in the Advisory Council. A large section of people have demanded that the Act should be reintroduced in Chandigarh, he said.
The Apartment Act allows bifurcation of the big plots, which interests the owners of many kanal houses in the city.
On the issue of dangerous breeds kept as pet dogs in Chandigarh, the Advisor said that we are mulling to take up this issue in Advisory Council meet. It would be discussed if we can categorize the dog breeds to be allowed to be kept as pets. For this, best practices in India or abroad would be looked into, he said.
The decision came after a recent incident of a pet Pitbull attacking and biting a 25-year-old woman on her right arm and leg in Sector 30 here. The dog’s owner, identified as Prem Chand, was booked after the incident.
Pitbulls were created by crossbreeding bulldogs and terriers to produce a dog that combined the strength of the bulldog with the gameness and agility of the terrier. In the UK, these dogs were used in blood sports such as bull-baiting and bear-baiting.
When asked about the problem of stray dogs in the city, Parida said that the proposal to keep the stray dogs in confinement would also be taken up at the Advisory Council meeting.
On a question related to illegal PG accommodations, Parida said that the Administration would soon put a cap on number of occupants to be allowed in PG facility besides putting a cap of number of rent-deeds to be allowed in a house.
CENSUS EXERCISE TO BEGIN IN MAY
Due to Coronavirus scare, the Administration has rescheduled the census exercise in the city.
UT Adviser said that the door to door survey under census was scheduled to begin in April. It has been postponed and if the situation remains under control, the exercise will begin in May now, he added.