Chandigarh:
The Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government in Haryana today decided to roll back the erstwhile Congress regime's decision to enhance the retirement age of state employees by two years, evoking sharp reaction from the opposition.
At a Cabinet meeting, the BJP government decided to lower the retirement age from 60 to 58 years and to hike Value Added Tax or VAT on diesel from the present 9.24 per cent to 12.07 per cent.
Shortly, before the October 15 Assembly polls, the Congress government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda had increased the retirement age of state government employees by two years to
60. It was enhanced to 62 years for Class IV employees and persons with disabilities.
The decision to roll back the retirement age will be implemented immediately, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar told reporters after the Cabinet meeting this evening.
"All employees who had completed 58 or 60 years in their respective categories and are still serving would be retired on November 30, 2014.The upper age limit for fresh recruitment would remain (unchanged at) 42 years. This decision had been taken to ensure maximum employment opportunity to the youth," he said.
The Cabinet also decided to increase VAT on diesel from the present 9.24 per cent to 12.07 per cent, with the Chief Minister saying the exchequer would earn an additional Rs 750
crore annually following the move.
However, opposition Congress termed the decision to increase the VAT on diesel as "anti-farmer".
"This is the most unfortunate anti-people and anti-farmer decision. This will lead to inflationary pressure on the market as a whole, besides putting unwarranted burden on the farming community who are already browbeaten by astronomical low prices of cotton and basmati rice," Congress national spokesman and former Haryana minister Randeep Singh Surjewala told PTI over phone.
The Congress leader was also critical of the rollback of some of the decisions of the Congress regime including the lowering of the retirement age.
Among other decisions, Mr Khattar said the state government had also decided to remove the Chairman and members of Haryana Staff Selection Commission and to revoke the Act of Haryana Teacher Service Selection Board. He said a new system would soon be introduced for teachers recruitment.