One Rank, One Pension: SC tells Centre to clear arrears by March 15

The Supreme Court on Monday granted the Centre time till March 15 to pay the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) arrears to all eligible pensioners of the armed forces.

A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha asked the Centre to ensure that all arrears were paid expeditiously to the pensioners and there was no further delay.

The apex court granted liberty to the ex-servicemen’s association to file an application if they feel aggrieved by any action of the Centre on the payment of arrears.

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Attorney General R Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, said the Comptroller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) has completed the tabulation process. The tables have been sent to the Defence Ministry for approval.

“By March 15, the money will start flowing into the accounts of 25 lakh pensioners of the armed forces,” Venkataramani said.

Second extension

Last month, the government moved the top court seeking extension of time till March 15, 2023, for the payment of arrears of the OROP scheme to all eligible pensioners.

This is the second extension given by the Supreme Court to the Centre to pay the arrears. The government moved the apex court in June 2022 and sought three months to compute and make payments in accordance with the March 16, 2022, verdict.

That verdict by the top court came on the plea filed by the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM) through advocate Balaji Srinivasan against the Centre’s formula.

It said according to a communication on November 7, 2015, the benefit of OROP was to go into effect from July 1, 2014, and the communication stated that “in future, the pension would be re-fixed every five years”.

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“Such an exercise has remained to be carried out after the expiry of five years, possibly because of the pendency of the present proceedings,” the bench said.

“We accordingly order and direct that in terms of the communication dated November 7, 2015, a re-fixation exercise shall be carried out from July 1, 2019, upon the expiry of five years.

“Arrears payable to all eligible pensioners of the armed forces shall be computed and paid over accordingly within a period of three months,” it had said.

(With agency inputs)