Supreme court reserves judgement in ‘One Rank One Pension’ plea

It had previously orally remarked that Centre’s hyperbole on the policy presented a much ‘rosier picture’ than what was actually given to pensioners

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its judgment in a petition claiming that the government's implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) for the Armed Forces has been faulty.

A Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud completed the hearings on the petition filed by Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement, represented by senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi and advocate Balaji Srinivasan, that OROP has led to the creation of a separate class among the personnel equally situated in rank and length of service.

OROP means a uniform pension would be paid to retired servicemen of the same rank with the same length of service, regardless of their date of retirement.

The petitioners had also challenged the government’s stand that equalisation of pension would happen periodically every five years. They had contended that a gap of five years would leave them at a great disadvantage. They said periodic equalisation would “cause great injustice to 24 lakh ex-servicemen, 6.5 lakh war widows and veteran widows and their families by creating a situation of One Rank Different Pension”.

In a hearing on February 16, the top court had orally remarked that the Centre’s hyperbole on the OROP policy presented a much "rosier picture" than what was actually given to the pensioners of the Armed Forces.

In its affidavit, the government, to a query about the financial outflow likely to be incurred, said it would be, from 2014, in the range of ₹42,776.38 crore.

The government had clarified that same rank and length of service were necessary for claiming OROP benefits.