In a significant development, the Central Government informed the Supreme Court on Thursday that it has rejected the recommendation to increase the pensions of retired Army captains by 10 percent under the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme. The announcement was made by Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati during a session presided over by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Manmohan.
The decision comes amid an ongoing legal battle following a 2021 order from the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) in Kochi, which had directed the government to finalize the pension adjustments for these officers. Despite the tribunal’s directive, the Centre has decided against implementing the proposed hike.
During the hearing, the ASG stated, “We have made a decision and we have not accepted the recommendations.” This declaration prompted the bench to encourage representatives of the retired Army captains, including M Gopalan Nair who are petitioning for the pension increase, to contest the rejection. The court has adjourned the matter to December 12, allowing time for the petitioners’ counsel to respond.
This judicial scrutiny began after the Supreme Court criticized the Centre for its prolonged indecision on adjusting the pensions as per the OROP scheme and imposed a Rs 2 lakh fine for the delay. The court had previously warned that it would mandate the pension increase if the government failed to resolve the issue.
The core of the dispute originates from the OROP scheme launched in 2015, which aims to equalize pension payments for former servicemen with those currently in retirement at the same rank. However, discrepancies arose, particularly for captains and majors, due to inadequate historical data on these ranks. As the minimum rank for pension eligibility has risen to lieutenant colonel, these earlier ranks faced pension anomalies.
