Government Has Wide Power To Retire Employees In Public Interest: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of India ruled that the government has the authority to compulsorily retire employees in the public interest to maintain administrative efficiency. The court emphasized that such decisions are valid if based on uniform assessment criteria and not motivated by malice.
Why it matters
This ruling clarifies the scope of government power regarding civil service employment and the limits of judicial intervention in administrative decisions.
The government has wide powers to compulsorily retire employees in public interest, the Supreme Court has maintained, observing that such decisions can be taken to ensure administrative efficiency and weed out employees whose continued retention is not considered conducive to public interest.The court said the assessment of an employee's utility, integrity, efficiency and overall service record is an exercise undertaken by the competent authority. An employee cannot challenge compulsory retirement merely by arguing that another government servant with a comparable service record was allowed to continue.The bench observed that the constitutional principle of equality does not permit an employee to claim the same treatment on basis of an earlier illegality or omission by the authorities."If a wrong has been committed in an earlier case, it cannot be relied upon to perpetuate a similar wrong in subsequent cases," the court said.The court, however, clarified that the power of compulsory retirement is…
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