NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet has decided to refer the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry's proposal to increase the retirement age of teachers in central universities from 62 to 65 with a provision for re-employment on a selection basis till 70 to a Group of Ministers.

The HRD Ministry mooted this proposal to address the shortage of qualified teachers and retain experienced hands. Though this proposal has been under consideration for a while now, it gained currency in the wake of the Government's decision to increase seats in higher education to provide reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in central educational institutions.

The Cabinet note on this issue has been in circulation since June and the HRD Ministry was hopeful of the proposal sailing through given the limited options before the Government as it faces the task of increasing student intake by 54 per cent in central educational institutions over the next three years.

The Finance Ministry has reservations about the proposals since increasing retirement age amounts to retaining people at higher scales. Add to this the fear of similar demands being made by other sectors. However, the HRD Ministry's counter to the financial implications is that increasing retirement age would delay the outflow in funds as pension benefits. As for similar demands from other sectors, HRD Ministry's contention is that a special concession should be made only for the teaching profession in view of chronic faculty shortage and the demands of the new reservation regime.

While the proposal is being linked to the decision to reserve 27 per cent seats in central educational institutions for OBCs — a decision taken by the Government in consultation with Left parties on May 23 — Secretary to the Department of Secondary and Higher Education in the HRD Ministry had on April 16 asked Chief Secretaries of all States to consider re-employing teachers till the age of 65 to address the problem of teacher shortage.

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