Supreme Court grants Centre time till December to implement OROP

Last updated Sep 16, 2022 16

The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Centre time till December to implement the one rank one pension (OROP) scheme after being told by the government that re-fixation of pension is a “time consuming” process.

The Centre moved an application for a three-month extension in June, just before the expiry of the deadline set by the Supreme Court in its March 16 ruling that cleared the OROP scheme.

A bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and Hima Kohli allowed the Centre’s application as it noted that some progress had been made since the passing of the order. The application assured the bench that the government was “taking earnest steps” to comply with the court’s directions which require Cabinet approval.

It was pointed out that the mandatory inter-ministerial consultations have been completed and a cabinet note drafted. After completing other formalities, the cabinet note will be sent for approval to the Cabinet Secretariat. “After the approval of the Cabinet, various types of pension tables will be required to be prepared by the Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA), which is also a time-consuming process,” the Centre said in its application.

Additional solicitor general (ASG) N Venkataraman told the court that though three months have passed since the filing of this application, the government still required a further time of three months.

Acceding to the Centre’s request, the bench was willing to extend the time till December 31 but later modified it by saying three months from today. The three-month period will end by December 15.

The request for more time was opposed by the original petitioner in the case, Indian Ex Servicemen Movement, which challenged the OROP scheme before the Supreme Court in 2016. Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi appearing for the petitioner along with advocate Balaji Srinivasan told the court that the retired armed forces personnel have been deprived of the arrears payable to them under the OROP since its launch on November 7, 2015.