The Cabinet also approved a proposal from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to restore the original provisions of the Prasar Bharati Act, thereby giving back to Parliament the right to oversee and monitor the functioning of Doordarshan and All India Radio.

A Bill to repeal the ULCA will be introduced in the Parliament's budget session. But there is no indication from the Government of a timeframe for the new Prasar Bharati Act.

The decision to raise the retirement age has been on the cards ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government assumed office, as it was promised in the BJP's election manifesto.

An order on this was expected this evening. It comes into effect immediately, benefiting those officials who were due to retire at the end of May. An official spokesman clarified that the new retirement age does notapply to officers on extension, superannuated under the earlier age limit.The beneficiaries of today's decision include Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar who will now get two additional years and the Chief Government spokesman S Narendra who was to retire this month.

The Government justification for increasing the retirement age is that it will save the exchequer a sum of Rs 5,200 crore annually in retirement benefits, leave encashment, etc.

Some 90,000 civilian employees and 55,000 defence employees retire every year. Along with the retirement age, the Government has also increased the age of entry for aspiring government servants by two years. A candidate can appear for the central services examination till the age of 30.

The cabinet also decided to set up a committee of secretaries headed by the Cabinet Secretary to examine the final report of the Jain Commission which is inquiring into Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. The committee will be assisted by a sub-committee. It decided to extend the ban on theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.