(INDIA TV)
The Supreme Court is likely to pronounce its verdict on Wednesday on a plea by ex-servicemen association seeking implementation of One Rank-One Pension as recommended by the Bhagat Singh Koshyari Committee with an automatic annual revision, instead of the current policy of periodic review once in five years. A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud had reserved its verdict on February 23 asking the Centre whether the hardships of ex-servicemen be obviated to a certain extent if the periodic revision of OROP is reduced from five years to a lesser period.
The plea has been filed by the Indian Ex-servicemen Movement (IESM) through advocate Balaji Srinivasan against the Centre’s formula of OROP. The top court had said that whatever it will decide, it will be on the conceptual ground and not on figures. It said, “When you revise after five years, the arrears of five years are not taken into account. The hardships of ex-servicemen can be obviated to a certain extent if the period is reduced from five years to a lesser period”.Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi and Srinivasan, appearing for IESM had said that the court has to keep in mind that it relates to older soldiers, who fought man to man unlike soldiers of today’s time, who have sophisticated arms. “It is the older soldiers who need the OROP the most. If we accept the submission of the Centre, it will be like allowing the illegality to continue, which the court wants to root out”, Ahmadi said.
