India News | Congress Opposes Move to Raise Retirement Age of Officials of Haryana Pond Management Authority

Chandigarh, Dec 21 (PTI) The opposition Congress on Tuesday objected to the provisions in a bill to increase the retirement age of senior officials of the Haryana pond management authority's by three years.

It raised objections against the Haryana Pond and Waste Management Authority and some other officers of the body holding office up to the age of 68 from the present 65 years, saying anyone can advice government at any age and there was no need to extend the age limit.

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The Haryana Pond and Waste Water Management Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was later passed after a brief discussion in the State Assembly. The bill was passed to further amend the Haryana Pond and Waste Water Management Authority Act, 2018.

While raising objections, Congress MLA from Mullana in Ambala, Varun Chaudhary proposed amendments in the bill and wanted it to be amended bt his plea was not accepted.

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As per the bill, the Haryana Pond and Waste Water Management Authority (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021, which was promulgated last month, stands repealed now.

To tackle the alarming condition of underground water and poor condition of ponds in many districts in the state, the planning and progress of many water bodies is in progress.

The authority has an executive vice-chairperson, technical advisor and member secretary to run the body. Some of the officers are attaining/may attain the age of 65 years very shortly, as per the bill.

He further said while the retirement age of Haryana government employees had earlier been reduced from 60 years to 58 years, whereas in this Bill, extension up to 68 years is provided.

“Judges of high court retire at 62 years, those of Supreme court at 65, CAG at 65, but what special competence do the executive vice-chairperson, technical advisor and member secretary have that this special provision has been made.

"This is even when they have not made a plan for ponds in Haryana for the last three years after the authority came into existence in 2018," he said.

Chief Minister M L Khattar, however, said that making such a provision is nothing new and reminded that even during Congress' time such things were done.

He said sometimes the provision is made when any person who has ability, talent, and technical expertise is already engaged in tasks of big magnitude.

“When we created the Pond Development Authority, we had 18,000 ponds in Haryana. Planning and other things take time. This will take 5 to 8 years. If anyone with technical know-how is already engaged in this, there is no harm in increasing the age limit," said Khattar in the Assembly.

Senior Congress leader B B Batra, however, said if the age limit was being increased for a particular individual, it should not be done. “We oppose this,” said Batra.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)