The Goa Football Association (GFA) president Churchill Alemao on Thursday reportedly tendered his resignation from the post following the verdict of the High Court of Bombay in Goa, which said that Alemao ceased to be the GFA chief as he is over 70 years.
However, the Benaulim strongman continues to be in active politics and even contested unsuccessfully in the last assembly election on the TMC ticket but lost to the candidate of AAP.
This brings the question of the retirement age of politicians to the fore. If a politician is considered old to head a state governing body, is the politician not old to contest the assembly elections?
Goa has several politicians who have contested the last elections and are well over the age of seventy. It is true that with age comes experience. However it seems necessary to have a retirement age for active politicians.
Another pertinent question that arises is that if there is no retirement age for politicians, should they be entitled to a pension as ex-MLAs? It seems that these issues need a revisit. Goa could set an example for the rest of the country.
