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Synopsis

While referring to its order passed in March last year whereby the Supreme Court had directed the Central Government to pay arrears to Army personnel within 3 months as per the Defense Ministry's One Rank One Pension Scheme, a CJI Chandrachud led bench today directed that the said exercise must be completed by March 15.

By the same earlier order, the Supreme Court had also upheld the central government’s implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) Policy for the Armed Forces. The order was passed in the plea by an association "Indian Ex-Service Movement".

OROP meant that a uniform pension would be paid to retired servicemen of the same rank with the same length of service, regardless of their date of retirement.

Today, Centre informed the Top Court that it has tabulated pension for 25 lakh pensioners in defense forces. Accordingly, the bench allowed some more time to the government for compliance. 

Background:

The plea had alleged that OROP led to the creation of a separate class among personnel equally situated in rank and length of service.

The government’s stand that equalisation of pension would happen periodically every five years was also challenged. It was contended that a gap of five years would leave them at a great disadvantage.

The Supreme Court held that there was no legal mandate that pensioners who hold the same rank must be given the same pension.

It added that all pensioners who held the same rank may not form a homogeneous class. The court further remarked that a new pensionary benefit can be made applicable from a prospective date, with the only condition that it cannot split up a homogenous class.

Furthermore, the court ordered for a refixation exercise to be conducted by the central government for a period of 5 years with regard to pension payable to Army Personnel as stated in the OROP policy in accordance with the November 7, 2015 notification.

Case Title: Indian Ex Servicemen Movement vs. Union Of India