NEW DELHI: Remarking that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) cannot take law into its own hands by issuing communication on payment of arrears of One Rank One Pension (OROP) in four instalments, the Supreme Court on Monday asked it to withdraw its January 20, 2023 notification.
A bench also comprising Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said that it would consider the centre’s application of seeking modification of its directions issued on February 27, 2023, and March 16, 2022
and permitting the Ministry to pay the arrears in four half-yearly installments pursuant to the Secretary withdrawing the notification.
SC on February 27, 2023, while rebuking the Ministry for its January 20 notification had directed the concerned Secretary, Department of Ex-Servicemen of the Ministry of Defence to file a personal affidavit explaining the circumstances in which the unilateral decision was taken irrespective of SCs order of disbursing the funds till March 15, 2023.
Expressing displeasure with regard to the notification, CJI DY Chandrachud warned for the issuance of a contempt notice against the Secretary for the issuance of the January 20 notification. In its March 16 ruling, SC while reaffirming the centre’s OROP scheme for ex-servicemen, had directed the centre to carry out the re-fixation exercise from July 1, 2019, upon the expiry of five years in terms of the notification dated November 7. It had asked the centre to compute and pay the arrears payable to all eligible pensioners of the armed forces within three months.
The court said that it was concerned with ex-army personnel getting the pension and added that it was sad that four lakh army personnel had died while waiting for the same. “Give us a note and show us what has been done, what remains now & when will it be paid. Come up with a small note, our concern is that ex-army personnel should get... it’s also sad that 4 lakh army personnel have died. In the end, we want the money to be disbursed,” CJI remarked.
Posting the pleas for March 20, the bench also asked the centre to file a three-page note specifying the quantum of arrears to be paid, the modalities for payment and prioritisation of disbursement, that is first to defence widows and the oldest of retirees. Laying emphasis on the fact that the government had enough money for other things, Senior Advocates Hufeza Ahmadi and Advocate Balaji Srinivasan said that the centre did not have money to pay the pensioners.