Centre seeks three more months to clear OROP arrears

The Centre has petitioned the Supreme Court for an extension of time until March 15, 2023, to pay arrears under the One Rank-One Pension (OROP) system to all qualified armed services pensioners.

This is the Union government's second request for an extension to pay the arrears after it initially approached the Supreme Court in June, asking for three months to compute and pay.

The Supreme Court, which supported the Centre's OROP concept on March 16, stating it had no "constitutional infirmity" and is not "arbitrary," ordered the government to pay the arrears within three months.

In its new application, the Centre stated that the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare (DESW) of the Ministry of Defence requested the Comptroller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) office to prepare the tables for the next pension revision in March 2022, immediately following the Supreme Court's March 16, 2022 judgement.

"The CGDA office raised several concerns and requested an explanation from the department. The department called a conference with concerned stakeholders to resolve the issues promptly, and necessary clarifications were provided in April 2022," it stated. According to the Centre, a final cabinet note was developed after combining the opinions received from both stakeholder departments.

"After cabinet approval, various sorts of pension tables must be developed by CGDA, which is a time-consuming process that requires a further extension of time up to March 15, 2023," it stated.

The government stated that it is taking the case seriously in order to comply with the court's judgement and decision, which will take some time to implement. It requested an extension of time until March 15, 2023.

The government stated that the delay is not deliberate or intentional, and that the process of implementing the top court's judgement is at an "advanced stage," and that it will suffer irreparable damage and injury if the current motion is denied in the interest of justice.

The Supreme Court, which heard the first motion for an extension of time submitted on June 9, granted an order on September 16 and said, "The time period of three months which was specified in the verdict dated March 16, is extended by a term of three months from today".

The Supreme Court issued its decision on March 16 in response to a petition brought by the Indian Ex-servicemen Movement (IESM) through counsel Balaji Srinivasan against the Centre's formula.

It had indicated in terms of the communication of November 7, 2015, the benefit of OROP was to be effected from July 1, 2014, and the message shows that "in future, the pension will be re-fixed every five years".

"Such an exercise has remained to be carried out after the expiry of five years possibly because of the pendency of the present proceedings," the bench had said, adding, "We accordingly order and direct that in terms of the communication dated November 7, 2015, a re-fixation exercise shall be carried out from July 1, 2019, upon the expiry of five years.

"Arrears payable to all qualifying pensioners of the military forces shall be computed and paid within three months," it stated.