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Delhi High Court: The Delhi High Court on Monday ruled that the retirement age of 60 years should be applicable equally to all ranks of Indian Coast Guard officers.
Delhi High Court: The Delhi High Court on Monday ruled that the retirement age of 60 should be applied equally to all ranks of Indian Coast Guard officers. The court rejected the rule setting different retirement ages for different ranks. The High Court declared this rule unconstitutional. According to the controversial rule, in the Indian Coast Guard, officers of the rank of Commandant and below used to retire at the age of 57, while officers above Commandant used to retire at the age of 60. A bench of Justice C Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla said that different age of retirement for officers of the rank of Commandant and below and officers of the rank above Commandant in the Coast Guard is unconstitutional.
The bench cited Articles 14 and 16
The bench said that Rules 20(1) and 20(2) of the 1986 Rules, which prescribe different ages of retirement, are unconstitutional and violate Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. The bench said that Rules 20(1) and 20(2) of the Coast Guard (General) Rules, 1986 do not fall within the scrutiny of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. The bench held that the retirement age of 60 years would be applicable to officers of all ranks of the Coast Guard. Article 14 deals with equality of all persons before the law and Article 16 deals with equality of opportunity in public employment. Petitions of retired Coast Guard officers, who were in service at the time of filing the petition but retired at the age of 57 years as per rules. The petitioners challenged the constitutionality of Rules 20 (1) and (2) and said that retirement of officers above the rank of Commandant at the age of 60 years and that of other officers at the age of 57 years amounts to malicious and unconstitutional discrimination.
Uniform rules in all Central Armed Police Forces
The High Court noted that earlier a similar dispute involving officers of BSF, CRPF, ITBP and SSB had been decided by a division bench of the same court. In that case, the division bench had declared the provision given in the concerned rule as unconstitutional and canceled it. It had directed that its judgment be implemented in all Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), without any individual petitioner needing to approach the court. A bench headed by Justice C Hari Shankar said that the Coast Guard is not a CAPF. The central government justified the lower retirement age by saying that the Coast Guard is a maritime service which requires young age profile and medically healthy personnel to work on navigation and aviation platforms, command and control issues, cadre and career progression.
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