The Supreme Court affirmed the government’s decision on One Rank, One Pension (OROP) for military troops on Wednesday, saying there is no constitutional flaw in the OROP principle or the November 7, 2015 notification.
The highest court bench stated, “One Rank-One Pension is a policy decision of the government, and it is not for the court to adjudicate policy concerns.”
The One Rank, One Pension policy decision of the Centre is not arbitrary, according to a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and Vikram Nath, and it is not for the court to intervene in government policy decisions.
OROP previous order
It was ordered that the pending OROP re-fixation procedure, which had not been carried out due to the pending matter before the court after the five-year period had expired, be carried out starting July 1, 2019, and that arrears be paid to the pensioners within three months.
The Supreme Court dismissed a petition filed by the Ex-Servicemen Association, which sought to implement the Bhagat Singh Koshyari Committee’s recommendation of one rank, one pension, with an automatic annual review instead of the current policy of once every five years.