Govt. informs Supreme Court of decision to not accept recommendations on pension hike under OROP-OxBig News Network

Supreme Court of India.
| Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma

The Supreme Court was informed by the government on Thursday (December 5, 2024) of the latter’s decision to not accept recommendations for enhancing pension by 10% to retired regular Captains of the Indian Army in accordance with the One Rank One Pension scheme (OROP).

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the government, apprised a Bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna of the non-acceptance of the recommendations on the pension hike.

The apex court was hearing an appeal filed by the government against an order of December 7, 2021 of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) at Kochi.

The AFT had directed the government to take a decision on the pension payable to retired regular Captains.

“We have made a decision and we have not accepted the recommendations,” Ms. Bhati said.

The Bench then asked the counsel appearing for retired Army Captains, including M. Gopalan Nair, who are fighting for enhanced pension, to challenge the non-acceptance of the recommendations as time was of the essence in such matters.

The counsel sought time to take instructions. The Bench listed the case on December 12.

Earlier, the Bench had come down heavily on the Centre for failing to take any decision for years on the pension payable to retired regular Captains in accordance with the OROP scheme, and had imposed a fine of ₹2 lakh.

It had granted the Centre the last opportunity for resolving the anomalies with regard to the pension of such retired officers under the scheme.

The Bench had said that if no decision was taken, then it would direct the payment of pension enhanced by 10% to the retired regular Captains. The Centre had said six anomalies had been pointed out by the Kochi Bench of the AFT, and they needed to be rectified, but it was yet to take a stand.

The root of the dispute lies in the OROP scheme introduced by the Centre in 2015. Under the scheme, the rate of pensions for past retirees were fixed at par with that for the current retirees of the armed forces.

However, certain anomalies had crept in the pension tables for Captains and Majors due to lack of proper data. The government had appointed a one-man judicial committee to resolve the issue.