A Supreme Court bench headed by the chief justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narsimha and JB Pardiwala has laid down the deadlines for the Ministry of Defence to make the payments of the arrears to retired military personnel and family pensioners under One Rank One Pension scheme. The top court has also made it clear that the dues will be paid to the eligible family pensioners and gallantry winners by April 30, 2023, and eligible pensioners above seventy years by June 30, 2023. The Supreme Court also directed the ministry to clear the arrears to the rest of the eligible pensioners in equal installments on or before August 30, November 30, 2023, and February 28, 2024. The Centre informed the Supreme Court that they would be unable to settle the back taxes all at once. Meanwhile, the court also denied accepting the sealed cover by the Centre, citing that they are averse to sealed covers and fundamentally against the rules of justice. The court said that there has to be transparency in the court and also remarked on what can be secrecy here.According to the information, the Centre has submitted the sealed cover envelope which contains the proposal for the disbursal of the arrears. The court also emphasised putting an end to the sealed cover practice because then the high court will also start practicing it and such a process is contrary to the basis of fair justice. The issue is connected to the March 2022 ruling in which the Supreme Court supported the OROP programme that the Central government had launched through its notification of November 7, 2015. However, the Court had ordered that the government execute a refixation exercise for five years with regard to the pension due to Army troops according to the OROP policy in compliance with the November 7, 2015 notification. Then, it said that the arrears were to be paid in three months.After that, in September 2022, the same extension was given for an additional three months, and in January 2023, the court granted another extension and mandated that the payment be completed by March 15. However, the Centre then issued the statement that payment will be released in four monthly installments. The petitioner then moved to the top court saying how the government can alter the deadline set by the apex court. Attorney General for India (AG) R Venkataramani, who was representing the Ministry of Defence when the case was called for hearing today, sent a sealed cover to the court on Monday outlining the governments plan for paying back arrears. The bench, noting that the Supreme Court wants to abolish the sealed cover business, asked the AG to share the same with the opposing side. “Please take him to the chamber or share the sealed cover with the other side. Because the Supreme Court and High Courts both use sealed covers, we want to abolish this practice “CJI made a comment. Thereafter, the AG then read out the contents of the reports, which according to the finance ministry says that the budget outlay was not able to meet the huge outflow in one go.Centres say on delay in pensionThe Centre informed the Court that Out of the 25 lakh retirees who were eligible for benefits under the OROP plan 4 lakh pensioners were not included because they were already receiving a greater pension than what was allowed under OROP. Thus, only 21 lakh pensioners would receive OROP benefits.The Centre also requested that 6 lakh family pensioners and recipients of gallantry awards, out of these 21 lakh pensioners, receive their benefits by April 30. This was because recipients of gallantry awards had distinguished themselves in their service to the nation and family pensioners had lost their primary wage earners. The Ministry also suggested that the payments for the 4 lakh pensioners who were older than 70 years old be received in 4-5 months.The Supreme Court accepted the same with a few modifications and also recorded that this directive will not have any effect on the computation of dues for the next equalization.
