The Supreme Court on Wednesday (July 30, 2025) rejected an order of 2023 of the Calcutta High Court in the retirement case of teachers. The High Court, in the order, retained the attitude of the West Bengal government that the retirement age of a teacher cannot be increased because it has not fulfilled the condition of teaching continuously for 10 years in a university in the state.
According to the PTI report, the Supreme Court said that when an employee has served for decades and is close to retirement, then it is only divided into different classes on the basis that it has taken the experience of teaching from the university in West Bengal or from any other state, it has neither a logical relationship nor any clear objective.
A bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Manoj Mishra said that in the February 2021 notification, the purpose of increasing the retirement age from 60 to 65 years was not to exclude employees gained from universities outside West Bengal. The bench has said that the lesson, reference and purpose of the notification shows that its purpose was to differentiate only between funded and private institutions from the state government.
Accepting the appeal of the employee challenging the decision of the High Court bench, the bench said that the appellant is entitled to Rs 50,000 as a legal expense. The Supreme Court said that when such decisions are tightened in the judicial review, unfortunately they emerge in the form of narrowness, and they are likely to weaken our resolve of brotherhood.
The bench said that such executive decisions seem to be small or simple mistakes, but they have far -reaching consequences. The Supreme Court said that the principle of brotherhood does not come out itself, but it is the responsibility of constitutional courts to recognize and maintain it. The court also said that if this sentiment is weak even in a small part of the administration, then it is the duty of the court to strengthen it again, so that the unity and integrity of the country remains.
The Supreme Court said in its judgment that the appellant was a regular employee of Burdwan University, who was appointed in the university in 2007 and remained in uninterrupted service until 2021. The bench said that after serving more than 14 years, the West Bengal government released a memorandum in February 2021 and increased the retirement age from 60 years to 65 years.
The bench said that there was a provision in the memorandum that only those who have gained minimum 10 years of continuous teaching experience in a university or college funded by a state will get the benefit of increased retirement age.
It said that after the appealer was given a representation to the Vice Chancellor of the university claiming to take advantage of the memorandum, the university informed that he would retire on getting 60 years of age on August 31, 2023, as he has no experience of teaching in ‘West Bengal state -funded university or college’. Distressed by this, he approached the High Court.
A single judge’s bench of the High Court accepted his petition and said that he would come under the purview of the memorandum and will retire on attaining the age of 65 years. Later, the state and university filed separate appeals challenging the order of the single bench. The bench accepted the appeal and quashed the order of the single judge.