In a judgment that sliced clean through an old nautical knot, the Delhi High Court wiped out rank-based retirement distinctions in the Indian Coast Guard, declaring them constitutionally unsound and logically adrift.
A Bench of Justices C Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla examined Rule 20(1) and 20(2) of the Coast Guard (General) Rules, 1986—provisions that forced officers at the rank of Commandant and below to hang up their boots at 57, while their higher-ranked counterparts sailed on until 60. After a close look, the Court found no anchor, no compass, and not even a faint lighthouse of justification to support the divide.
The Bench made its stance plain: the rules couldn’t survive scrutiny under Articles 14 and 16. The age-based separation was struck down, and the retirement age of 60 now stretches across every rank in the Coast Guard.
Petitioners had long argued that the demarcation was arbitrary. The government countered with concerns over medical fitness, operational readiness, and command-structure dynamics, insisting that younger officers were essential for sea-going duties. But the Court was unmoved, noting that such duties weren’t the exclusive province of lower-ranked officers—and more importantly, the government had brought no hard data to shore up its claims.
The judgment was candid in its criticism, pointing out that the reasons offered were “vague” and “exaggerated,” lacking even a trace of empirical foundation.
A cluster of petitions brought the issue before the Court, and with this ruling, the long-standing rift in retirement ages has been consigned to the deep.
