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The Supreme Court today upheld the central government’s implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) Policy for the Armed Forces.

A Justice DY Chandrachud led bench had reserved the judgment in the plea by an association "Indian Ex-Service Movement" on February 23.

OROP meant 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.

The plea had alleged that OROP had 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.

A bench of Justices Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Vikram Nath today 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 many 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.

"Refixation exercise to be carried out from July 1, 2019 and arrears to be paid to Army personnel within 3 months", ordered the court while disposing of the petition.

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