Retirement age gap, SC says armed forces service conditions need to be revisited

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday asked an expert panel to re-examine the British-era retirement age and service conditions of personnel of the armed forces, including the Coast Guard, as the government seeks to rid the country of its colonial legacy.A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi passed the order on an appeal filed by the government challenging the Delhi High Court’s order quashing Rule 20(1) and 20(2) of the Coast Guard (General) Rules, 1986, which provided that officers of the rank of Commander and below would retire at the age of 57, while officers above the rank of Commander would retire on attaining 60 years.Additional Solicitor General Archana Pathak Dave, appearing for the government, said the Supreme Advocate General was wrong to compare the Coast Guard, which comes under the Ministry of Defence, with central armed police forces such as ITBP, CRPF, CISF and Shashatra Seema Bal. Coast Guard personnel have a completely different job than armed police personnel and are under different ministries, she said.While the bench upheld the HC order reinstating the different retirement ages of two Coast Guard officers, it said, “It is time to review these provisions regarding conditions of service and retirement age. The government cannot be wedded to conditions that were conceived and drafted in the 1940s.”In the order, the CJI-led bench said, “The impugned order should remain. However, the government should constitute a committee of domain experts to re-examine the conditions of service, including retirement age, and submit its report to the court.”On November 24 last year, a division bench of the Delhi High Court consisting of Justice C. Hari Shankar Om Prakash Shukla quashed both provisions of Article 20 and said: “Therefore, we are of the view that the retirement age of 60 years will be applicable to all ranks of Coast Guard officers.”The judgment was inspired by a previous judgment of the High Court “Dave Sharma Compared with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police case, this case abolished the difference in retirement age for police sergeants and above. The SC upheld the Dev Sharma verdict of the HC.