New Delhi: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday upheld the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme introduced by the Central Government for ex-servicemen.
A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud held there is no legal mandate that everyone who held the same rank must have the same pension.
Justice Suryakant and Justice Vikram Nath were also included in this bench.
However, the Supreme Court said that the pending rescheduling process of OROP should be started from July 1, 2019 and the dues should be paid in three months.
The last hearing in this matter was held on February 16, where the apex court asserted that the Centre's exaggeration presents an attractive picture on the OROP policy, while the pensioners of the armed forces have not got much.
Notably, an organization of ex-servicemen had said in the Supreme Court that the basic purpose of One Rank One Pension is not being fulfilled by this policy.
The 'One Rank One Pension' rule means that a retired soldier of the same rank and length of service will receive the same pension, regardless of their date of retirement.
The demand of the soldiers was that the officer, who has been in the rank of colonel for at least 7 years, should get pension equally. The pension of such officers will not be less than the officers, who have been colonels for 10 years, but will be equal to them.
As soon BJP came to power in 2014, it announced the implementation of OROP for retired soldiers. However, the scheme was implemented three years ago.
Notably, earlier the situation was that the soldiers, who retired before 2006 used to get less pension, even less pension than their younger officer used to come in their account. There was a lot of resentment among the retired soldiers about this arrangement and they were also demanding a uniform pension for a long time.
From Major General to Colonel, Sepoy, Nayak and Havildar were influenced by the system.
In 2008, the ex-servicemen also fought for a long time by forming an organization named Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (ISM). Continuous sit-in demonstrations were held at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.
There was a demand of the soldiers that they should also be retired at 60 years. Soldiers are retired at 33 years and after that they have to spend their whole life on pension. While other employees get full salary till 60 years.
All the soldiers wanted, by implementing the Sixth Pay Commission, equal pension should be given to the soldiers, who have served for the same post and for the same amount of time, regardless of the year in which they retired.
There has been a demand for equal pension among retired soldiers for a long time. In 2008, the ex-servicemen formed an organization named Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (ISM) and organized a major movement demanding 'One Rank, One Pension'.
This movement went on for 85 consecutive days at Delhi's Jantar Mantar. The strike ended after the assurance of PM Narendra Modi.
This matter also reached the Supreme Court. In September 2009, the Supreme Court ordered to proceed with 'One Rank, One Pension'. In 2010, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defense had recommended the implementation of the 'One Rank, One Pension' scheme.
Interestingly, during the Lok Sabha election campaign in September 2013, BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi had promised to implement the 'One Rank, One Pension' scheme if voted to power.
Before the general elections in February, 2014, the UPA government decided to implement the 'One Rank, One Pension' scheme and allocated a budget of Rs 500 crore for this.
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