Supreme Court lays down deadlines for payment of arrears under OROP scheme

The Supreme Court on Monday laid down the deadlines for the Ministry of Defence to make payment of arrears under the One Rank One Pension scheme (OROP scheme) to retired military personnel/ family pensioners..A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala issued the following directions in this regard:- Family pensioners and gallantry award winners should be paid on or before April 30, 2023, in a single installment.- Those above 70 years of age should be paid on or before June 30, 2023. The Union has the option to pay the entire due in one installment or spread it within the outer limit of June 30, 2023.- For remaining personnel, payments should be made in three equal installments - on or before August 31, 2023, November 30, 2023, and February 28, 2024..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.The affected personnel then moved the top court demanding how the government could unilaterally alter the deadline set by the apex court.During the previous hearing of the matter on March 13, the apex court had asked the Ministry of Defence to provide a roadmap for the payment of arrears..When the matter was taken up for hearing today, the Attorney General for India (AG) R Venkataramani, appearing for the Ministry of Defence, handed over a sealed cover to the Court on Monday regarding the government's roadmap on payment of arrears..However, the bench asked the AG to share the same with the opposite party, remarking that Supreme Court wants to put an end to the sealed cover business."Please share the sealed cover with opposite side or take him to the chamber. We want to put an end to the sealed cover business being followed by Supreme Court since High Courts also follow it," the CJI remarked. .The AG then proceeded to read out the contents of the report. He told the Court that the budget outlay was not able to meet the huge outflow at one ago, as affirmed by the Finance Ministry..Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for the affected military personnel, expressed dissatisfaction with the delay in payment, pointing out that the pensioners had served the country in the best years of their lives and have now become the last priority of the government. He pointed out that a circular issued in January 2023 indicated that the Defence Ministry has the funds but needs to prioritize. .The Court noted that the budgetary outlay for the Defence Ministry was ₹5.85 lakh crore, and out of this, ₹1.32 lakh crore was the total planned pension disbursement. The Court further noted that the arrears of ₹28,000 crores, was an additional component and that the Finance Ministry had expressed their inability to provide it in one go and suggested a staggered payment..The Court observed that while the Centre is legally bound to comply with the OROP scheme, the current situation regarding the payment schedule and the material presented to the Court will significantly impact the nature of the Court's order..The Centre informed the Court that out of the 25 lakh pensioners who were due to receive benefits under the OROP scheme, 4 lakh pensioners were excluded because they were already receiving a higher pension than what was stipulated under OROP. Therefore, the OROP benefits would only be paid to 21 lakh pensioners..Out of these 21 lakh pensioners, the Centre proposed that 6 lakh family pensioners and gallantry award winners would receive their benefits by April 30. This was due to the fact that family pensioners had lost their breadwinners, and gallantry award winners had rendered exceptional service to the country..The Centre also proposed that the 4 lakh pensioners who were above 70 years of age would receive their benefits within 4-5 months and that the remaining 10 to 12 lakh pensioners would receive their benefits in three installments until March 31, 2024..The Court accepted the same with a few modifications and also recorded in its order that the Attorney General has specified that this directive will not have any effect on the computation of dues for the purposes of the next equalization..[Read order]