Disappointing the teaching staff of Panjab University, Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday dismissed a bunch of petitions, seeking a hike in the retirement age of professors and lecturers.
The professors and lecturers in Panjab University and its affiliated colleges had filed these petitions, seeking permission to continue with the assignments till 65.
The petitioners had sought raise in the retirement age as per the UGC regulations claiming Panjab University to be a centrally funded institution, as more than 90 per cent grant was coming from the Union of India.
Dismissing the petitions, Justice Amol Rattan Singh made it clear that the salaries paid to the petitioners during the petitions under consideration would not be required to be refunded but the petitioners would have to go. The court has also directed for the filling up of vacancies to be created with retirements within a period of three months.
During the course of hearing of the matter, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development had submitted that the Panjab University was not a centrally funded institution. In affidavits filed from time to time though Assistant Solicitor-General Chetan Mittal, it was claimed that Panjab University was an interstate body corporate as defined under the Punjab Reorganization Act.
The State of Punjab had refused to give its concurrence for change of Panjab university’s status as a central university.
The petitioners had established their claim, relying on the recommendations by a task force committee by the PMO. The counsel for the petitioners had told the court that the petitioners would be retired from service by the varsity by wrongly taking the superannuation age as 60, instead of 65, as mandated under the University Grants Commission regulations, 2010. He had claimed that the same recommendations of UGC were binding on the university.
The petitioners submitted that on December 20, 2011, the varsity amended a university regulation raising the age of superannuation of teachers to 65. Amended regulations had been sent to the Ministry of Human Resource and Development for approval., while it was not required as the UGC regulations had been framed by the Centre itself, mere compliance report of implementation was required to be sent.