Chandigarh, Jan 9: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has clarified that disability does not automatically entitle a government employee to an extension in service beyond the age of superannuation.
Dismissing a petition filed by a differently abled Group-D employee, a Division Bench of Justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Rohit Kapoor held that there is no statutory right to continue in service merely on the basis of disability.
“Neither the 1995 Act nor the 2016 Act contains any provision for extension in the age of superannuation for employees suffering from disability,” the Bench observed.
The petitioner, who retired at the age of 60 under Haryana’s service rules, had sought extension till 62, citing parity with Group-A to Group-C employees. His counsel argued that the State had already extended such benefits to other categories of differently abled employees and should do so uniformly.
The court, however, noted that earlier extensions were not the result of any conscious policy decision by the State. “It appears that the decision in that regard was taken for a different purpose and without proper rationale,” the Bench said.
Referring to a batch of writ petitions decided in November 2025, the court recalled that differently abled employees with 40 per cent or more disability had relied on disability laws to seek service extensions. After examining the record, the court had found no justification for granting such benefits.
The Bench also pointed out that similar extensions earlier granted in Himachal Pradesh had been withdrawn and that the move was upheld by the Supreme Court.
While rejecting the present plea, the court left it open for the Haryana government to re-examine the rationale behind extending superannuation benefits to certain categories without a clear policy framework.
“We have, therefore, left it open for the State of Haryana to examine the rationale of extending such benefits,” the Bench added.
