India, Nov. 8 -- The Supreme Court has ruled that compulsory retirement of a government employee is neither punitive nor stigmatic and does not imply a finding of misconduct, provided the decision is based on relevant material and the competent authority's assessment of public interest.

A bench of Justices Manmohan and Shree Chandrashekhar made the observation while upholding the Chhattisgarh government's decision to compulsorily retire five of its 14 employees under a 2017 government circular.

".an order of compulsory retirement is neither punitive nor stigmatic in character. Such an order does not cast any aspersion upon the conduct of the employee nor does it imply any finding of misconduct," the bench said.

The court clarified that...