Bihar Protests against Mandatory Retirement Order

Protests were organized in capital Patna and all Districts of Bihar by state employees and teachers who burnt copies of the 6-monthly mandatory retirement order issued by the General Administration Department. A memorandum demanding the immediate withdrawal of this order was submitted to the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary and General Administration Department.

The memorandum demands the withdrawal of the order issued by the General Administration Department (No. 6832, dated 23 July 2020) and says that the provisions of this order are completely undemocratic. These provisions will give the bureaucracy full free rein and will make slaves of state employees. This will vitiate the harmonious and democratic atmosphere essential for a healthy state administration and will establish sycophancy. It will also be a serious blow to the concept of a public welfare state.

A competent and firm administration has many factors, of which the central and decisive factor is the competence, commitment to rules and democratic behavior of the Council of Ministers, Departmental Minister, and Departmental Head. The order issued disregards this factor and gives the review committee/appointment authority unrefined rights by which he can target any employee against whom he has a prejudice. This is highly improper and unacceptable.

The memorandum further says that Rule 74 of the Bihar Service Code is a special provision which on the one hand gives the appointing authorities the right to issue mandatory retirement to a particular employee; and on the other hand gives the employee the right to take voluntary retirement. This is not a general rule. But the order which has been issued has turned this into a daily routine and made it the means by which employees can be forcibly retired every six months annually. This cannot be justified from any angle.

It is true that the order states that the effect of the mandatory retirement will not be considered to be punitive. But in effect it will certainly prove a hugely punitive decision for the state employee and his family which can be easily understood from the humanitarian point of view.

The order indicates that in the case of Non-Gazetted employees, their representative will also be invited to be part of the review committee. This is totally unacceptable to the representative organizations of Non-Gazetted employees. Their leaders have clearly stated that no representative of employees’ organization will be part of any governmental process for the forcible retirement of employees.

Copies of the said order were burnt in front of the New Secretariat (Vikas Bhavan) in Patna by employees and teachers led by Bihar Sachivalaya Sewa Sangh President Vinod Kumar, Bihar Rajya Arajpatrit Karmachari Mahasangh (Gope Group) President Prem Chand Kumar Sinha, Bihar Rajya Arajpatrit Karmachari Sangh President Vishwanath Singh and Bihar Vishvavidyalaya Karmachari Sangh President Shankar Yadav. Employees and teachers were present in large numbers along with labor leaders from various organizations including AICCTU, Mahasangh (Gope Group) and Arajpatrit Karmachari Mahasangh Rambali Prasad, Niranjan Kumar Sinha, Shatrughan Prasad Singh, Neelam Kumari, Amit Mishra, Balkrishna Mehta, Ranvijay Kumar and others.

The anti-employee order was burnt at District HQs across Bihar led by District Presidents and Secretaries.