Fact Check: No, Centre Has Not Raised Age Of Retirement To 62

A post claiming that the Union Cabinet has approved an increase in the retirement age of central government employees to 62 is going viral on social media platforms (here, here, and here). Through this article, we will fact-check the claim made in the post.

Claim: The Government of India has increased the retirement age of central government employees to 62.

Fact: The Government of India has not increased the retirement age of central government employees to 62. The Press Information Bureau of the Government of India has clarified that the government has not made any such decision to raise the retirement age of central government employees. Moreover, in August 2023, the government confirmed in the Lok Sabha that there is no proposal under consideration to change the retirement age of central government employees. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.

To verify the veracity of the viral claim, we conducted a relevant keyword search. Neither did we find any credible reports suggesting that the Government of India has increased the retirement age of central government employees to 62 nor that the Union Cabinet has recently approved or reviewed any proposal to increase the retirement age of central government employees. If such a decision had indeed been made by the government, it would surely have been reported by the media.

During this search, we found multiple reports (here, here, and here) published in August 2023, stating that in reply to a Lok Sabha question on 9 August 2023, Union Minister Jitendra Singh confirmed that there is no proposal under consideration to change the retirement age of central government employees. The Lok Sabha reply given by Union Minister Jitendra Singh regarding the retirement age of central government employees can be viewed here.

We have also reviewed the Press Information Bureau (PIB) press releases regarding Union Cabinet meetings (here) but did not find any information related to Cabinet discussions on the retirement age of central government employees. In the most recent Union Cabinet meeting, held on 06 November 2024 and chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Cabinet approved ‘PM Vidyalakshmi’, a new Central Sector scheme aimed at providing financial support to meritorious students, ensuring that financial constraints do not prevent anyone from pursuing higher studies (here). Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw briefed the media about the Union Cabinet meeting held on 06 November 2024 (here).

The 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) did not make any recommendations regarding an increase in the retirement age of central government employees to 62 (here). However, the retirement age of certain central government employees is higher than 60 years. The 5th Central Pay Commission (CPC) recommended raising the retirement age of central government employees from 58 to 60. It also stated that the maximum retirement age should not exceed 60 years, and there should be a complete ban on extensions of service beyond the age of superannuation, except in the case of medical and scientific specialists, who may be granted an extension on a case-by-case basis, up to the age of 62 years (here, here). In September 2017, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the enhancement of the superannuation age for doctors, other than those of the Central Health Services (CHS) under various departments, ministries, and autonomous organisations, to 65 years (here).

When many posts have gone viral on social media claiming that the government has increased the retirement age of central government employees to 62, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) of the Government of India clarified on their official fact-check X(Twitter) handle on 19 November 2024 that this news is false and the government has not made any such decision.

https://twitter.com/PIBFactCheck/status/1858776276364128542?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

To sum it up, the Indian government has not increased the retirement age of central government employees to 62.

(This story was originally published by Factly, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective)