Mumbai, June 30 (IANS): Minister for General Administration Ashish Shelar on Tuesday assured the Maharashtra Legislative Council that the government will convene a meeting under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to deliberate on the benefits and service-related issues of graduate part-time employees and take an appropriate decision in their interest.
He was replying to a calling attention motion moved by MLCs Abhijit Wanjari, Ashok (Bhai) Jagtap, Sudhakar Adbale, Dhiraj Lingade, Satej (Bunty) Patil, and Jayant Asgaonkar regarding the pension scheme and other service benefits for graduate part-time employees.
Minister Shelar said that approximately 3,000 to 3,500 graduate part-time employees are serving across various government establishments in Maharashtra, while the number of retired graduate part-time employees is over 50. Since the prescribed age limit for appointment to these posts is between 46 and 55 years, their effective tenure in government service remains relatively short.
Referring to various Government Resolutions issued from time to time and in accordance with the order of the High Court, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Bench, dated April 24, 2026, the members urged the government to take a one-time policy decision, as a special case, to provide relief to all graduate part-time employees in the state.
During the discussion, the members urged the government to treat the date on which employees joined service as graduate part-time employees as their official date of government appointment for the purpose of extending all admissible service benefits with retrospective effect.
They also demanded that, following the model adopted by the government of Andhra Pradesh, the retirement age for graduate part-time employees be increased from 58 to 60 years, given their limited tenure in government service.
Further, they sought the extension of the benefits of the Old Pension Scheme to all graduate part-time employees under the Maharashtra Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1982.
Responding to the discussion, Minister Shelar stated that the government would examine the issue in the light of the relevant court judgments and the existing legal framework.
He assured the House that a meeting would be convened under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to explore all possible measures that could provide relief and ensure eligible benefits for these employees.
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This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.
