“It’s Not War But Rule Of Law”: SC Pulls Up Defense Ministry In OROP Case

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New Delhi: A hearing was held in the Supreme Court on Monday, February 27 in the case of pension payment under the One Rank One Pension (OROP) policy. The Supreme Court reprimanded the Ministry of Defense and said that the orders of the court have to be followed. Along with this, the court has sought a personal affidavit from the Secretary, of Pension Affairs, Ministry of Defense. The court asked why the decision to give pensions in installments was taken despite the court order. The Supreme Court warned that we will issue a contempt notice.

During the hearing on One Rank One Pension, Chief Justice (CJI) DY Chandrachud bluntly said- ‘The purity of the court process should be maintained. This is not a war, but a matter of rule of law. Organize your home. Defense Secretary withdraws his notification. If this does not happen, we will issue a contempt notice to the Defense Ministry. The matter will now be heard after Holi.

At the same time, during the hearing, Huzefa Ahmadi, on behalf of the petitioners, said, ‘About 4 lakh pensioners have died. In fact, on January 20, the Defense Secretary issued a notification saying that he would give the pension in four installments under OROP. While on January 9, 2023, the Supreme Court told the Center that by March 15, everyone should be paid. During this, AG R Venkataramani had said- ‘I am personally monitoring this matter. It will be paid soon. There are 25 lakh pensioners. The list has come to the ministry for final screening. It is with the Finance Branch of the Ministry of Defence.

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OROP is paid to Armed Forces personnel who retire in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement. In July 2022, the review petition filed regarding One Rank One Pension (OROP) implemented in the Indian Army was rejected by the Supreme Court.

The ‘Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement’, an organization of ex-servicemen, had demanded a reconsideration of this decision from the Supreme Court, but the court turned it down. The review petition was dismissed by the bench of Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Suryakant, and Justice Vikramnath.

On 16 March 2022, the Center got a big relief in the case of One Rank One Pension (OROP) in the Armed Forces. The Supreme Court upheld the manner in which the “One Rank One Pension” scheme was introduced in the defense forces. In the judgment, the Supreme Court had said- ‘We did not see any constitutional flaw in the adopted principle of OROP. There is no legislative mandate that pensioners of the same rank should be given the same pension. The government has taken a policy decision that is within its powers. Pension will be re-fixed from 1st July 2019 and will be revised after 5 years. The balance will have to be paid within 3 months.

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