Supreme Court ask Centre to set up panel for revisiting colonial era service norms of coast guard

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said that it is high time the regulations governing service conditions and retirement age of coast guard officers were revisited as the government cannot remain bound by frameworks conceived in the British era.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked the Centre to consider setting up an expert committee to reassess the criteria for defining "highly skilled" coast guard officers.

The court was hearing the Centre’s appeal against the Delhi High Court's order of last year quashing Rule 20 of the Coast Guard Rules, 1986, which provided that officers of the rank of commandant and below would retire at the age of 57 years, while those above the rank of commandant would retire on attaining 60 years.

Additional Solicitor General Archana Pathak Dave submitted coast guard work is completely different from that of other forces, as they face much harsher conditions at sea, similar to the Navy, which requires a younger workforce.

The bench said that the evolving role of the coast guard today is far beyond what anyone then could have imagined, yet the current retirement age still reflects outdated patterns.

The court underscored that experience is vital in a sophisticated and highly skilled force, and cautioned the government against adopting an approach that is “too static or conservative” when framing service conditions.

The government counsel submitted that the high court erred in comparing coast guards, which come under the defence ministry, to other forces like the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the Central Reserve Police Force, the Central Industrial Security Force, and the Sashastra Seema Bal. She argued that retirement ages in the armed forces were carefully linked to recruitment age to ensure a specific length of service. She also said that these matters fell within the realm of policy.

The court agreed to examine the matter and stayed the operation of the High Court's judgment.

It directed the Union government to consider the desirability of constituting an expert committee to revisit conditions of service of coast guards, especially with regard to the age of recruitment and age of retirement, report of which would be submitted to this court.

The bench scheduled the matter for consideration on April 13, 2026.