Summary
The Supreme Court rejected Kerala Assistant Public Prosecutors’ demand to retire at 60 instead of 56 for appointees governed by the pre-April 2013 service regime. Similar prosecutorial functions did not establish parity with panel-appointed Public Prosecutors or judicial officers, whose appointment and service conditions differed. Later recruits were governed by a different pension regime. The offer to forgo pension during extra service was left to government policy, with liberty to represent and no direction to accept it.
Issues
- Whether similarity of functions entitled earlier Assistant Public Prosecutors to retirement-age parity with Public Prosecutors, judicial officers or later recruits.
- Whether willingness to forgo pension during additional service justified a judicial extension of retirement age.
Held
- Assistant Public Prosecutors selected through the Public Service Commission enjoy government-service benefits. Panel-appointed Public Prosecutors hold materially different terms and do not receive those benefits. Similar duties alone do not establish retirement-age parity. (¶ 6)
- Status as officers of the court does not equate prosecutors with judicial officers, whose recruitment and service conditions differ. Comparisons confined to functions cannot decide the claimed entitlement. (¶ 7)
- Earlier appointees were covered by statutory pension, while recruits from 1 April 2013 were subject to the contributory scheme applicable across government service. The cutoff date itself was not under challenge, and the differing service regimes defeated the parity claim. (¶ 8)
- The offer to forgo pension for service between ages 56 and 60 could not support a direction benefiting this group while other earlier government employees retired at 56. It remained a policy matter; the Association could represent to government, which was free to decide lawfully without any opinion from the Court on acceptance. (¶ 9)
Result
Appeal dismissed without costs. Liberty to make a representation concerning the pension-for-extra-service proposal; no direction to extend retirement age or accept the proposal.