Supreme Court: Defence Ministry Can’t Take Law In Its Own Hands

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the Ministry of Defence cannot take the law into its own hands by communicating the payment of One Rank-One Pension (OROP) arrears in four installments.

The ministry has been asked to immediately revoke its January 20, 2023, communication that stated OROP arrears would be paid in four installments. The bench that made this request comprised Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices PS Narasimha, and JB Pardiwala.

Attorney General R Venkataramani stated that while the Centre has paid one installment of OROP arrears to ex-servicemen, further payments will take some time.

The bench instructed Venkataramani, “First remove (your) January 20,2023, notification on payment of OROP arrears, then we would consider your appeal for the time”.

The bench ruled that the defence ministry’s message from January 20, 2023, was entirely at odds with its decision and that it was not permitted to unilaterally declare that OROP arrears would be paid in four installments. It requested that the attorney general draft a memorandum outlining the amount of payment that must be made, the procedures to be followed, and the priority of the payment of arrears.

“We demand a classification system in place and that elderly persons receive priority in receiving back payments. Since the lawsuit began, more than 4 lakh pensioners have passed away”, declared the bench.

The Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM), represented by attorney Balaji Srinivasan, has filed a case with the Supreme Court asking to cancel the message from the Defense Ministry dated January 20, 2023.

The supreme court criticized the defence ministry on February 27, 2023, for the delay in paying OROP arrears to eligible military retirees. The court also demanded an explanation from the secretary of state responsible for the communication extending the court-imposed payment deadline.

The top court gave the Center until March 15, 2023, to pay the total OROP arrears, which it did on January 9, 2023. However, the ministry announced in a message on January 20, 2023, that the arrears would now be paid in four yearly increments.

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