The Supreme Court of India expressed significant displeasure towards the Central Government on Tuesday for its protracted delay in resolving pension discrepancies for retired regular captains under the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme. The apex court imposed a stern penalty of Rs 2 lakh on the government, directing that the amount be contributed to the welfare funds of the Army.
Justices Sanjiv Khanna and R Mahadevan, presiding over the case, sternly offered the government one final chance to rectify these pension anomalies by November 14. The court warned that failure to resolve the issues would result in a mandatory 10% increase in the pensions of the affected retired captains. The matter is scheduled for further review on November 25.
During the court proceedings, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhatti, representing the Centre, acknowledged six specific anomalies identified by the Kochi bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT). Despite this, she admitted that the government had yet to formulate a decisive stance on these issues. Bhatti requested a three-month extension to address these concerns comprehensively, asserting that a fragmented approach could impact other pensioners.
The bench was critical of the government’s continuous delays. “For how many years will this go on? Either you pay an enhanced pension by 10 per cent, or we are imposing a cost on you. We wanted a decision to be taken, but you have not taken it. This matter came up in 2021 but still no decision has been taken,” Justice Khanna articulated, reflecting the court’s frustration with the ongoing procrastination.
The roots of the dispute trace back to the implementation of the OROP scheme in 2015, which aimed to equalize the pensions of past retirees with those of current retirees from the armed forces. However, discrepancies emerged, particularly for the ranks of captains and majors, due to inadequate data and the minimal rank of retirement for pensionable service being lieutenant colonel.
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The Ministry of Defence had constituted a One Man Judicial Committee (OMJC) in 2016 to address these anomalies, but subsequent action on its recommendations remained stagnant. The Kochi Bench of the AFT had previously mandated the ministry to correct these anomalies in a time-bound manner based on the OMJC’s advice, a directive that the Centre later contested at the Supreme Court.
