Teachers must retire at 60: Karnataka HC

BANGALORE: The tug of war between teachers who have crossed 60 years of age and the Karnataka Ministry of Higher Education (KMHE) notwithstanding, the Circuit Bench at Gulbarga has vacated the interim order, allowing the state government to take necessary action to get teachers relieved from service.A letter from the Office of the Advocate General, Gulbarga Circuit Bench of Karnataka High Court, to the principal secretary of the Government, stated that the division bench had vacated the interim order granted earlier by the single judge bench of the Karnataka High Court, Bangalore.In this background, the office of Advocate General of Gulbarga Circuit Bench advised the KMHE that it might take necessary action to relieve the teachers who have reached the age of superannuation already.When contacted, Minister for Higher Education Dr V S Acharya said that teachers would be relieved with immediate effect.“The state government has fixed age of retirement of teachers working in colleges at 60 years. Services of teachers who have been working beyond this age are considered as free and the state government will not pay them any money for their services,” he added.Vice-president of the All India Federation of University and College Teachers Dr R Halesh said that he had also come to know about the Circuit Bench order. The order was passed when two of the aggrieved professors had approached the Circuit Bench, he added.It may be recalled that the state government had raised the retirement age of teachers working in universities from 60 to 62 years in 2009, keeping in concordance with UGC norms. This order was only for university teachers who have qualifications as specified by the UGC and having passed the National Entrance Test and those who had completed their PhD through course work. However, it had made clear that the increase in retirement age did not apply to teachers in affiliated colleges.So, the teachers working in affiliated colleges in Karnataka had approached the High Court and the single judge bench of the court had issued an interim order posting the case to June 20.Under this stay, many teachers had continued to work in colleges even after reaching the age of superannuation.