The Supreme Court on Monday rapped the Defence Ministry over its communication regarding payment of arrears of One Rank-One Pension (OROP) in four installments to eligible pensioners of the armed forces. A bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala ordered the Defence secretary to file a personal affidavit explaining why a unilateral direction was passed by the ministry when the top court had directed that the payment should be made by March 15, 2023, Bar and Bench reported.
"You tell the secretary we are going to take action against him for that January 20 communication. Either withdraw it, or we are going to issue a contempt notice to the Ministry of Defense. Sanctity of the judicial process has to be maintained," the court said.
The court also cautioned that interest at the rate of 9 per cent would have to be paid if arrears were not cleared by March 15.
On January 9, the Supreme Court had granted the Centre time till March 15 for payment of total arrears of OROP to all eligible pensioners of the armed forces.
This was the second extension given by the apex court to the Centre to pay the arrears after it had first moved the SC in June 2022 and sought three months to compute and make payments.
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The same month, the Defence Ministry had issued a communication stating that the payments would be made in four equal installments.
A group of ex-servicemen then moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre that OROP arrears be paid to all eligible pensioners in one installment. The group of ex-servicemen said that approximately four lakh pensioners have died during the pendency of the petition.
Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for the petitioners, demanded how the government could unilaterally alter the deadline set by the top court.
"When this court passed an order how can the department reserve the right to modify it? 4 lakh pensioners have passed away in the interregnum and they cannot claim the pension," he said, Bar and Bench reported.
Additional Solicitor General N Venkataraman told the court that the Ministry should be given time to carry out the exercise as per the court's order. The Supreme Court posted the matter after Holi vacation.
The decision to implement OROP was taken by the Narendra Modi-led government on November 7, 2015, with benefits effective from July 1, 2014.
OROP was a long-standing demand of the Armed forces personnel. As per OROP, retired soldiers of the same rank, who have retired after serving for the same length of service, will receive the same pension, irrespective of the date and year of their retirement.