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| DB Upholds 58-Year Retirement Age for Cooperative Staff, Dismisses Appeals | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Aug 26: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh has reaffirmed that employees of Cooperative Societies must retire at 58 years, dismissing two appeals seeking enhancement of the retirement age to 60 in line with government employees.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Sindhu Sharma and Justice Shahzad Azeem dismissed LPAs filed by Mohammad Yousuf Mir of Pulwama and Abdul Majid Doshaba of Sopore, who had challenged their retirement at 58 under SRO 233 of 1988.
Counsel for appellant Mohammad Yousuf Mir, Mr. L.A. Latief, Advocate, argued that Mir was entitled to continue till 60 as per SRO 164 of 2014, which enhanced the age of retirement for government servants, and based on a 2019 communication by the Registrar, Cooperative Societies recommending similar enhancement for cooperative employees.
Abdul Majid Doshaba, who superannuated in April 2018, also sought parity with government employees, urging that Cooperative staff be treated on the same footing.
While rejecting the pleas, the Division Bench held that the service conditions of Cooperative employees are governed by SRO 233 of 1988, which fixes retirement age at 58 years and draft amendment rules or departmental proposals recommending enhancement have no statutory backing and cannot override the existing rules.
DB further said that employees who continued beyond 58 under interim court directions did so at their own risk and cannot claim salary for the overstayal period.
The Bench observed that any change in retirement age can only be made by amending the statutory rules, not through administrative communications. With these observations both appeals were dismissed, and the Court upheld that 58 years remains the binding retirement age for employees of Cooperative Societies in Jammu & Kashmir.
(JNF) |
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