Appointed as per INC eligibility criteria, employee can’t claim retirement under UGC Regulations: CAT

Srinagar, Apr 11: The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) in Srinagar has ruled that an employee appointed as per the eligibility criteria prescribed by the Indian Nursing Council (INC), cannot claim retirement in keeping with University Grants Commission (UGC) Regulations.   bench comprising Justice Ritu Tagore, Member (Judicial) and Prasant Kumar, Member (Administrative), also held that the age of retirement is a matter left to the policy decision of the State or Union Territory.  

The Court said this while dismissing a plea by an Associate Professor (Nursing) in Alamdar Memorial College of Nursing and Medical Technology, Charar-i-Sharief, Budgam, a constituent college under the Islamic University of Science and Technology( IUAST), Awantipora.
The petitioner was selected vide order dated May 30, 2016, as AP in the IUST’s Nursing College in response to an advertisement notice dated December 2, 2015. Her past service in SKIMS was counted in the IUST service.  
In her petitioner she projected the grievance that she was being retired at the age of 60 years and not at the age of 62 years or 65 years as prescribed in UGC Regulations.
 

Her further contention was that since all the Universities, including the IUST, follow the age of retirement as 62 years for Professors and APs, she could not be singled out as she also held the post of AP.  
Moreover, she argued that the advertisement for the post of AP in the Nursing College was issued by the IUST and the appointment orders were also issued by the university and hence ipso facto she was covered by the University Statutes and the UGC Regulations.

Opposing her plea, the IUST through DAG Rais Ud Din Ganaie argued that the retirement age of 65 years is applicable only to the University faculty whereas the Petitioner is serving in a constituent Nursing College, governed by a different regulatory framework applicable to the Government Nursing Colleges across J&K.  

 The retirement age of 65 years is applicable exclusively to the faculty members of university teaching departments governed by UGC Regulations and University Statutes, which have no application to faculty members working in Nursing Colleges, he said.
After hearing the IUST through DAG and the petitioner through advocate Faizan M Bhat, the Tribunal dismissed the plea.

Relying on the Supreme Court’s and various High Courts’ judgments, the Tribunal noted that these decisions make it abundantly clear that fixing the age of retirement falls within the domain of the State or UT.
Moreover, the Petitioner had not placed any document pertaining to the adoption of the UGC Regulation by the erstwhile state Government or the Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Tribunal said.  
While the Tribunal noted the Nursing Colleges throughout the country, including in Jammu and Kashmir, follow the syllabus prescribed by the INC, it said: The appointment of the Petitioner by the IUST, on the post of AP Nursing College, was made as per the eligibility and qualifications issued by INC and not as per UGC Regulations”.  

“Therefore, the prayer of the Petitioner for differential application of UGC Regulations on her, i.e. appointment as per the eligibility criteria prescribed by the Indian Nursing Council and retirement as per UGC Regulations, cannot be supported”.
The Tribunal underscored that it is a settled position of law that the age of retirement is a matter left to the policy decision of the State or UT and that the Petitioner could not place any document before it pertaining to the adoption of the UGC Regulations by the then State of Jammu and Kashmir or the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

The advertisement and appointment of the Petitioner have been in accordance with the eligibility prescribed by the INC and not as per the qualifications prescribed in the UGC Regulations, it said.

Moreover, the Tribunal observed that in the Statutes of the IUST, it is provided that the teachers in the permanent whole-time service of the university shall retire on superannuation on completing the age of 65 years, subject to the ascent of the Chancellor.

The petitioner also has not placed any document pertaining to the ascent accorded by the Chancellor, it said.