Creamy layer at sick PSUs can stick on till they're 65

NEW DELHI: The government is all set to raise the retirement age of managing directors, CEOs and board level members of sick public sector undertakings (PSUs) to 65 years. The move is being made so as to give continuity to the implementation of approved revival packages.

The department of public enterprises has moved a Cabinet to the effect. Once approved, the proposed policy decision will be applicable to all the PSUs for which the Board of Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) has approved a revival package.

The government also proposes to create a pool of retired professionals that are associated with the turnaround stories of sick PSUs in the past. These professionals will receive remuneration on the same scale as the people on regular job at these posts. There is a provision to reward professionals for successful implementation of revival packages by the government.

“The move is being made as new chairmen, managing directors and board members that are appointed from outside or other PSUs are not able to see through the lacunae in the system due to lack of adequate association with the system,” according to a government official. In a number of PSUs, the current retirement age is 58, while others allows top executives to serve till 60.

But those selected for the implementation packages may not remain employed till 65 years of age as the government has proposed a limitation. Once the revival package is implemented successfully and the company shows a turnaround, officials will be rewarded and retired from their posts even if they are below 65 years of age.

The draft cabinet note has been prepared by the department of public enterprises (DPE) and is being circulated for the comments of other ministries.

Almost 45 revival packages have been approved by the BRPSE so far. The companies for which revival packages have been sanctioned by the Cabinet include, Praga Tools, Heavy Engineering Corp, Cement Corp of India, Hindustan Salts, HMT (Bearings), Tungabhadra Steel, Tyre Corp of India (TCIL) among others.