A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala expressed displeasure over the recent communication of the Union Defense Ministry on OROP and asked to withdraw it.
The court directed the ministry to immediately withdraw its January 20 circular and said that you cannot take law into your hands by issuing letters to pay the arrears in four instalments.
OROP Pensioners: There is the latest update for the pensioners of One Rank One Pension Scheme. In the hearing held on Monday, the Supreme Court has expressed its displeasure over non-payment of pension to the retired personnel of the armed forces and payment of arrears in installments. The Supreme Court said that the Ministry of Defense cannot take the law into its own hands by issuing a circular regarding payment of arrears of ‘One Rank One Pension’ in 4 instalments, in such a situation, the Ministry of Defense should immediately withdraw the circular dated January 20. Next in this matter The hearing will be held on March 20. Please tell that under the order of the Supreme Court, the arrears have to be paid to the pensioners by March 15.
Supreme Court said – Government should withdraw the notification
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala expressed displeasure over the recent communication of the Union Defense Ministry on OROP and asked to withdraw it. The court directed the ministry to immediately withdraw its January 20 circular and said that you cannot take law into your hands by issuing letters to pay the arrears in four instalments. The January 20 circular of the Ministry of Defense was completely contrary to its decision and it cannot unilaterally say that it will clear OROP dues in four instalments. Surprisingly, this is the second time in a month that the Supreme Court has taken cognizance of the matter.
Center again asked for time
Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the government, said the Center has paid one installment of OROP dues to the ex-servicemen but it needs some more time to make the next payment. On this, the bench said that this step will have to be taken before the Ministry of Defense, only after that it will hear the application for more time to pay the pension arrears of the Center. The bench asked the Attorney General to prepare a note detailing the amount to be paid, modalities to be adopted and priority for payment of arrears, etc. Asked to give how much payment is due and in what timeline it will be paid.
This is the whole matter
In fact, dues are to be paid to more than 25 lakh pensioners under the One Rank One Pension scheme. In the last hearing, the Supreme Court had directed the central government to pay the dues of pensioners in one instalment, the delay in payment But the Supreme Court while questioning the Ministry of Defense asked the Defense Secretary what is the explanation for extending the time limit unilaterally, disregarding the order given by the court to pay within the time limit. The Supreme Court had said that from March 15 The arrears should be cleared first. The Supreme Court had given instructions to pay all the dues in a single instalment. The matter was decided before a bench comprising Chief Justice YS Chandrachud, besides PS Narasimha and Pardiwala.
The government had issued these instructions after the Supreme Court
Following the directions of the Supreme Court, a release has been issued on behalf of Modi. In which instructions were given to the Bank, Accounts Office, Pension Disbursement Officer and other concerned agencies to ensure timely payment of arrears to all eligible pensioners before March 2023. Action has been expedited for the payment of dues. The amount will be seen in the pensioners account till March 15. Defense pensioners who have retired in 2014 under One Rank One Pension Scheme. His family and pensioners will be given the benefit of One Rank One Pension Scheme. According to the figures of the Ministry of Defense, the expenditure is Rs 42470 crore.
Who will get how much arrears
According to the revised pensioner of One Rank One Pension Scheme, the soldier will get Rs 87000 as arrears. As on June 30, 2022, arrears of Rs 114000 to Naik, arrears to Major 305000, Havildar 70000, Naib Subedar 108000, Sub Major 175000, Brigadier Rs 5 lakh 5 thousand, Lieutenant Colonel Rs 455000, Colonel 442000 and Lieutenant General 43000 390000 will be made available to Major General as arrears. There may be some change in this according to the previous installment.
