Filed through Advocate-on-Record Balaji Srinivasan, the plea questioned the Central government’s notification dated November 7, 2015.
The plea stated that the Central government under the guise of implementing OROP, twisted or modified or altered the definition of OROP as being uniform payment of pension to retired servicemen retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, regardless of their date of retirement, meaning thereby that the gap between the rates of pension of current and past pensioners were to be bridged at “periodic intervals”.
“Government Notification of November 7, 2015 goes to the very heart and soul of the OROP and alters it, as the OROP involves enhancement in the rates of pension being passed on to passed pensioners and OROP is not merely about pension but about ‘justice, equity, izzat and status’,“ the plea stated.
The plea sought annual revision of pension under OROP and for calculating pension based on 2014 salary of ex-servicemen which with regard to the 2015 notification was being fixed on the basis of 2013 and the periodic review was fixed at 5 years.
Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi appearing for the petitioners had argued that the 2015 notification is arbitrary on the face of it since it introduces certain elements of inequality in terms of grant of pension and is in direct contradiction to the assurance given in the Finance Minister’s Budgetary speech of 2014 and to the recommendations of Koshiyari Committee.
“You cannot introduce the devil in details. Now you are putting riders,” Senior Advocate Ahmadi had stated regarding the 2015 notification drawing a new definition of the OROP Scheme.
In response to the same, the Central government had argued that the speech by the Finance Minister wherein the Koshiyari Committee’s recommendations of 2011 for OROP was endorsed was not based on any decision reached by the Union Cabinet.
Source: Barandbench
