- Petitioner docs reject proposal
The Ministry of Health has presented an alternate proposal for the retirement of specialist doctors, in relation to the case filed by a group of specialist doctors in the Court of Appeal (CoA) challenging the Government's decision to lower the retirement age of public servants to 60 years.
The relevant case was taken up before the CoA on Tuesday (6).
Speaking to The Daily Morning, a specialist doctor who is among the petitioners, said that Additional Solicitor General, President's Counsel Nerin Pulle, appearing for the Attorney General's (AG) Department, had presented to the CoA an alternate proposal that had been forwarded by the Secretary to the Ministry of Health Janaka Sri Chandraguptha.
According to the said proposal, the specialist doctors who complete 63 years of age by now, should retire by 30 June 2023, while those who are over 62 years of age by now should retire by 31 December 2023, and those who are over 61 years of age by now should retire by 30 June 2024, and those who are over 60 years of age by now should retire by 31 December 2024.
However, the lawyers who appeared for the 176 petitioners (specialist doctors) informed the CoA that the proposal submitted by the Health Ministry, on the face of it, is not satisfactory. They also pointed out that it is not possible for the petitioners to comply with the said proposal as 92 out of the 176 petitioners are below 60 years of age.
The petitioners also said that the CoA had encouraged the AG's representative to come to a settlement on the issue. The case is to be taken up again on 26 June 2023.
The Government earlier stated that the retirement age of more than 60 years of certain special categories of public servants including specialist doctors, will remain unchanged even after the introduction of the new retirement policy. However, the Government issued a circular on 14 September 2022, specifying that the retirement age of all public servants will be 60 years, irrespective of the specifications defined in the previous circulars.
Following the said decision, 176 specialist doctors had filed a case in the CoA, seeking a writ order with regard to the Government's decision. The CoA, considering the explanations, then issued an interim order suspending the inclusion of doctors and specialist doctors in the relevant gazette notification which made the retirement age of public servants to be 60 years.