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Supreme Court pulls up Defence Ministry for delaying payment of OROP arrears to retired army personnel

The Court ordered the Secretary of Defence Ministry to file a personal affidavit explaining why a unilateral direction was passed by the Ministry contrary to the directions of the apex court.

Supreme Court

Debayan Roy

The Supreme Court on Monday took exception to the decision by the Ministry of Defence in unilaterally extending the deadline for payment of arrears to retired armed forces personnel under the One Rank One Pension Scheme (OROP) contrary to the top court's order.

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala ordered the Secretary of Defence Ministry to file a personal affidavit explaining why a unilateral direction was passed by the Ministry when the apex court had directed that the payment should be made by March mid this year,

In January this year, the ministry had issued a communication stating that the payments would be made by way of four equal installments.

The issues stems from the March 2022 judgment in which the top court had upheld the OROP scheme introduced by the Central government through its notification of November 7, 2015.

The Court in that judgment had, however, said that a refixation exercise must be conducted by the government for a period of 5 years with regard to pension payable to Army personnel as stated in the OROP policy in accordance with the November 7, 2015 notification.

It had then said that the arrears should be paid within 3 months.

Subsequently, the same was extended by another 3 months in September 2022 and in January 2023, the Court granted another extension and directed that the payment be made by March 15.

However, the Centre then issued a communication that the payment will be made quarterly in four installments.

Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for the affected personnel, demanded how the government could unilaterally alter the deadline set by the 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.

The CJI was also not impressed by the Defence Ministry's actions.

"This is not a war but under the rule of law. Set your own house in order. If not we will issue a contempt notice to the Ministry of Defence," the CJI remarked.

The bench then sought response from the Secretary.

"Defence Ministry Secretary to the pension scheme is directed to file a personal affidavit on why this unilateral direction passed when Supreme Court had passed orders," the order said.

The Court also cautioned that interest at the rate of 9 percent will have to be paid if arrears are not cleared by March 15.