Paramilitary forces are armed forces, entitled to benefits of Old Pension Scheme: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday held that the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) or the paramilitary forces are the armed forces of the Union and, therefore, entitled to benefits of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) as granted to the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force..The CAPF includes forces like the Central Reserve Police Force, Shashtra Seema Bal (BSF), Border Security Force (BSF) as well as Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). .A division bench of Justices Suresh Kumar Kait and Neena Bansal Krishna quashed the government orders and the officer memorandums (OM) to the extent they denied the benefits of OPS to the personnel of the paramilitary forces.“It is made clear that the notification dated 22.12.2003 as well as OM dated 17.02.2020 granting the benefit of Old Pension Scheme shall be applicable in rem. Meaning thereby, Old Pension Scheme shall not only be applicable in the case of petitioners herein but all the personnel of CAPFs at large. Accordingly, necessary orders be issued within eight weeks,” the Court ordered..It was dealing with a batch of more than 80 petitions filed by the personnel serving in the CAPF challenging the OM issued on February 17, 2020 by the Department of Pension and Pensioner's Welfare.The OM said that in cases where the final result for recruitment were declared before January 1, 2004 against the vacancies occurring on or before December 31, 2003, only those candidates shall be eligible for OPS.The petitioners stated that the government’s notification of December 22, 2003, which brought in the New Contributory Pension Scheme (NPS), as well as OM of February 17, 2020 create a bar upon the respondents to not implement the NPS upon the personnel of the CAPF since they are categorized as 'Armed Forces' which are excluded from the purview of NPS. Hence, they should be covered by OPS and not NPS. However, the government argued that even though Section 3 of CRPF Act, 1949 says that CRPF is an Armed Force of the Union of India but in the notification dated December 22, 2003, the term ‘ARMED Forces’ implies only to Army, Navy and Air Force and not to the entire armed forces of the Union.Hence, the government said it would be the NPS that is applicable to CAPF and not OPS. .After considering the arguments and examining the notifications and office memorandum, the Court said that the Supreme Court and High Courts have always appreciated the role of armed forces in safeguarding our country and have ensured that any policy decision should not be detrimental to their interest.The judges noted that the contents of the notifications as well as OM clearly demonstrate that when the policy decision to implement NPS was taken, the armed forces of the country were kept out of its domain.“Accordingly, we are of the considered opinion that the Notification dated 22.12.2003 as well as OM dated 17.02.2020 are required to be implemented in their true essence,” the judges said. .The Court said that notifications and the OM specifically mention that all the Central Government employees “except the armed forces”, shall be governed by the NPS.The bench further said that when, through the circular dated August 6, 2004, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had itself declared that the Central Forces under the administrative control of MHA are armed Forces of Union, the position cannot be disputed that the Armed Forces shall remain excluded from coverage under Notification dated 22.12.2003“Apparently, Article 246 read with List 1 Entry 2 of the VII Schedule of Constitution of India envisages Armed Forces of the Union of India includes “Naval, Military and Air Forces; any other armed forces of the Union”, so, the personnel of CAPFs deserve to get the benefit of OPS, as has been granted vide Notification dated 22.12.2003,” the Court said. .Advocates Ankur Chhibber, Anshuman Mehrotra, Ankita Patnaik, Nikhil Bhardwaj, Nikhil Palli, Rajat Arora, Dipu Kumar Jha, Niraj Kumar, Pankaj Kumar, Sandeep Kr Singh, Shubhendu Saxena, Rishabh Agarwal, Padma Kumar S, Amit Bardhan Mohanty, Akash Mohan, Amit Bardhan Mohanty appeared for the petitioners.CGSC Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar and Ripu Daman Bhardwaj argued for the Centre along with a battery of other lawyers. .[Read Judgement]