Himachal Pradesh: High Court imposes interim stay on retirement age of college employees, know whole matter

December 13, 2025

The Himachal Pradesh High Court has stayed the implementation and operation of the November 3, 2025 notification and the November 7, 2025 communication regarding the retirement age of employees of St. Bede’s College, Shimla, and the related government aid, until the next hearing date.

A division bench of Justices Vivek Singh Thakur and Romesh Verma issued notices to all respondents, including the state government, in the matter and directed them to file their replies within two weeks. The next hearing is scheduled for January 1, 2026.

The petitioners argued that they are entitled to retire at the age of 60 years as per the existing rules, notifications, and previous court orders. They contended that, in accordance with prior orders and Grant-in-Aid (GIA) rules, college employees should receive grant-in-aid until the age of 60.

The petitioners objected to the November 3, 2025 notification, which limits the admissibility of GIA for employees of aided non-government colleges to only 58 years of age. The petitioners argued that this new notification is contrary to previous court judgments and existing rules and that its implementation would result in a sudden and substantial reduction in their income, making their lives miserable.

The next hearing in the case will be held on December 31. The court issued this order because the respondent corporation stated that it no longer requires the recruitment of timber watchers on an outsourced basis.

The corporation informed the court on December 11 that 19 posts of timber watchers were allocated on an outsourced basis for the Kullu Forest Division in 2022, but these posts have not yet been filled due to the petitioners’ failure to submit the necessary documents and assume their duties.

The Service Committee and the Board of Directors have decided in their respective meetings that the existing 86 posts of Girani, Charani, and Dhulani are now being converted into timber watcher positions. Due to this conversion, the corporation no longer needs to recruit any timber watchers on an outsourced basis.