GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 20th March. The Supreme Court said on Monday that the Centre is obligated to comply with its 2022 judgement on the payment of One Rank One Pension arrears to ex-service personnel, and asked it to pay dues for 2019-2022 worth Rs 28,000 crore to them by February 28 next year.
A bench led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, which initially refused to accept the Centre’s sealed cover note on the payment of OROP dues, gave the Ministry of Defence a time schedule for paying the arrears to ex-service personnel, categorising them under several headings.
“The Union government is duty-bound to comply with the judgement of this court in the terms of the OROP scheme,” it said.
The bench noted that four lakh pensioners were not eligible for the OROP scheme as they were receiving enhanced pensions, and the Centre proposed to pay the arrears by April 30, 2023.
The bench reduced the time limit for payment of arrears to different groups of pensioners under the OROP scheme to February 28 of next year.
The bench, which also included justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, ordered that the six lakh family pensioners and gallantry award winners be paid their OROP dues by April 30, 2023.
It said around four-five lakh retired servicemen aged 70 years and above shall be paid their OROP dues in one or more instalments by June 30.
The OROP dues for 10-11 lakh remaining pensioners shall be paid in three equal instalments by February 28 next year, the bench said, making it clear that the payment of the dues “will not affect further equalisation of pension of ex-servicemen to be done in 2024”.
At the outset of the hearing, the top court refused to accept the Centre’s sealed cover note about its views on the payment of OROP arrears.
“We need to put an end to this sealed cover practice in the Supreme Court… This is fundamentally contrary to the basic process of fair justice,” it said.
“I am personally averse to sealed covers. There has to be transparency in court… This is about implementing orders. What can be secret here,” the CJI said.
The bench was hearing the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement’s (IESM) plea over payment of OROP dues.
On March 13, the Supreme Court slammed the government for “unilaterally” deciding to pay OROP dues in four installments.
The defence ministry recently filed an affidavit and a compliance note in the Supreme Court, outlining the timelines for paying ex-servicemen arrears of Rs 28,000 crore for the fiscal years 2019-22.
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