‘Changed our mind, go home’

It’s no one’s case that the Manohar Lal Khattar government erred in reversing the Bhupinder Singh Hooda regime's decision to increase the retirement age of government employees from 58 to 60 and the Class IV staff from 60 to 62. The argument for and against having the staff serve for another two years is equally balanced, and Hooda's decision was taken more with an eye on the elections than any pressing administrative requirement. One school of thought is that retiring officials at 58 actually turns out to be costlier for the government since it has to pay a healthy pension without getting any work done. Add to it the fact that the retirement age of Central government staff is 60 years. But there are those who firmly believe that fresh, younger faces give a new dimension to governance and it makes for better politics.
Where the Haryana Cabinet went wrong was in delivering an abrupt blow to the government staff who had earlier been assured of an extension in their service. Propriety demanded a soft landing for the affected employees, a grace period perhaps for them to come to terms with the sudden change in their circumstances. First notifying a two-year extension of service, and then suddenly telling them - in some cases, just days before they would have retired otherwise - that 'sorry, we've changed our mind and you can go home now' is harsh and not well thought of. Having a leaner government and opening job opportunities are well within the rights of a chief minister, especially a new one without any baggage. A more humane approach would have helped matters.
Haryana has close to four lakh employees and nearly 5 per cent retire every year. The human aspect apart, the Khattar government's decision would have an impact on manning posts and offices, besides sending an unintended message to the private sector on pushing boundaries of what's possible when dealing with employees. Hopefully, the new dispensation would think of filling vacancies fast and have better foresight in getting on with the business of governance.