Andhra Pradesh government to extend retirement age

The state government had earlier used the ‘final allocation’ clause to deny them the extension. However, so far, the Kamalanathan committee has only made provisional allocations and the Union home ministry has to finalise them.

The Kamalanathan committee had made provisional allocations of staff in 105 departments between AP and Telangana.

Some employees who joined the Andhra Pradesh government after the provisional allocation have reached 58 years of age. They were denied extension of service with the departments citing ‘final allotment’ mentioned in the government order.

On the other hand, employees who have been working with the AP government since the state bifurcation on ‘order to serve’ will get the two-year extension, irrespective of whether they belong to AP or Telangana.

However, officials contend that the committee’s provisional allocation can be considered as ‘almost final’; they point out that the Kamalanathan committee before making the provisional allocation had called for objections and had given 14 days time.

After the issue was brought to light, the government has decided to amend the orders. Chief secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao has cleared the file and sent it to the finance department for its approval.

AP cooperative department secretary Premchandra Reddy, a member of the Kamalanathan committee, told this newspaper that after the approval of the finance department that the government will issue a circular to all departments to extend by two years, the service of all employees who retired recently or will retire soon without taking into consideration of ‘final allotment’ clause. He said the government does not have specific data on how many employees have retired and from which departments.