GO on retirement age hike: Goofs-up catch culprit!

There is a saying in Urdu: “Nakhal karne ko bhi akhal chahiye” (You need to have brain even to do copying). Perhaps, those who wanted to malign the Jagan Mohan Reddy government seem to have no brains in their attempt to tamper with an old government order.

A GO (GO Ms No. 15 dated January 28, 2023) has been doing rounds in the social media since Saturday morning.

The GO from the state finance department, issued in the name of special chief secretary (finance) S S Rawat, says the age of superannuation (retirement) for all the government employees has been enhanced from 62 year to 65 years.

The rumour mongers on the social media used this fake GO to malign the government, saying it was increasing the retirement age of the employees to 65 years to appease them before the elections.

They have also alleged that the government has no money to pay immediate retirement benefits to those who would be attaining age of superannuation this year; and hence, it has increased the retirement age to 65 so that it can delay the payments by another three years.

In fact, it was only in January 2022 that the Jagan government increased the retirement of the employees from 60 to 62 years, as part of the PRC implementation. So, it is a matter of common sense that it cannot increase the retirement age so suddenly.

Secondly, the decision has to be taken at the state cabinet after discussing with the state government employees’ unions. Thirdly, there are a lot of bloomers in the latest GO, which also has the same old GO number. 

Those who made changes in the GO forgot to make tight editing. While the GO date is mentioned as January 28, it says an ordinance was issued on January 31. How can a GO be issued now, on the basis of an ordinance which has not yet been issued?

The mischief mongers made changes from 62 to 65 all over the GO, but at one place, they forgot to do it. So, it said the retirement age was increased from 60 to 62 years. Moreover, wherever changes were made, they are clearly visible due to font change.

Yet, as the GO was doing rounds in the social media, the state finance department came up with a rejoinder saying the GO was fake and fabricated.

“It is brought to the notice of the Government that in the visual media and social media, a GO stated to have been issued by the Finance Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh, mentioning that the age of retirement of Government employees is raised from 62 years to 65 years is under circulation. 

The Government hereby clarifies that the G.O. is false and fabricated and not issued by the Government.

“The employees and the public-at-large are advised to not be misled by this false GO. The Government is taking steps for filing a FIR for taking criminal action against the perpetrators as per the law,” Rawat said.

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