BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court issued notice to the ministries of defence and finance on a PIL seeking direction to implement recommendation of a one-man judicial committee constituted to resolve anomalies in implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) to all pensioners.
The petitioner, Wing Commander GB Athri (retd), contended that both the ministries are aware that around 20 lakh ex-servicemen and 4 lakh widows across the country are beneficiaries of OROP. On account of a rise in the cost of living, they are under financial crisis, he said.
After hearing the petition, a division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty issued notice to the ministries. The petitioner has prayed that the court issue directions to the ministries to take immediate steps to refix OROP with effect from July 1, 2019, for ex-servicemen and disburse the same with arrears with immediate effect.
“It is the statutory obligation on the part of the ministries to refix OROP even before expiry of five years. Unfortunately, the ministries have failed in their duty to refix OROP. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason for them to postpone the re-fixation of OROP.
It was made clear in the government order dated November 7, 2015, that OROP would be refixed once every five years. It was the result of a three-decade long fight. The five-year term expired last year itself. In spite of it, the ministries failed to re-fix the same,” the petitioner said.