New Delhi: In a decisive ruling, the Indian Supreme Court has imposed a fine of INR 2 lakh on the Modi government for failing to rectify pension discrepancies affecting retired regular captains under the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme. The court has also set a firm deadline of November 14 for the resolution of these issues.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the bench, comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and R Mahadevan, issued the ruling after noting the government’s inaction since a December 2021 directive from the Kochi Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal, which highlighted six specific anomalies in the pension calculations that required correction. The justices expressed their readiness to mandate a 10% pension increase for the affected officers should the government miss the newly set deadline.
The Supreme Court has scheduled a follow-up hearing for November 25 to ensure compliance, underlining the critical nature of these pension discrepancies which originated from the OROP scheme’s implementation in 2015. Despite the establishment of a One Man Judicial Committee in 2016 intended to resolve these issues, the government has yet to provide a satisfactory solution, affecting the financial stability of numerous military retirees.