Defence min cannot take law in its own hands on OROP arrears, says SC

The Supreme Court on Monday said the Ministry of Defence cannot take law in its own hands by issuing a communication "unilaterally" that One Rank-One Pension (OROP) arrears to pensioners of the armed forces will be paid in four installments and sought a payment plan by March 20.

Noting that over four lakh pensioners have died since the OROP litigation started in 2016, the court also asked the defence ministry to immediately withdraw its communication and told Attorney General R Venkataramani to prepare a note giving details of the quantum of payment to be paid, the modalities to be adopted and what's the priority segment. The January 20, 2023 communication had said the OROP arrears will be paid in four equal installments to ex-servicemen.

The court observed that the defence ministry's January 20 communication was "directly contrary" to its verdict on March 16, 2022 that had directed payment of complete arrears within three months and it cannot unilaterally say it will pay OROP arrear