The Supreme Court on Monday, 20 March, declined to accept the sealed cover note submitted by the Centre in connection with the payment of pension arrears to retired defence personnel under the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme.
CJI DY Chandrachud remarked that there cannot be "great secrecy" in the court.
"I am personally averse to sealed covers. What happens is, we see something, he does not see. And we decide the case without showing it to him. This is fundamentally contrary to the judicial process. There cannot be secrecy in the Court. The Court has to be transparent."
OROP Scheme: Under the One Rank One Pension scheme or OROP scheme, uniform pension is to be paid to armed forces personnel retiring at the same rank with the same length of service, regardless of when they completed their service or retired.
The petioners have contended that over four lakh pensioners of the armed forces have already died while waiting for their arrears under the scheme.
In a previous hearing, the Defence Ministry had elicited the ire of the Supreme Court for not following the timelines for regarding the OROP pension arrears.
During Monday's hearing, the top court directed the centre to clear the dues of 10-11 lakh pensioners by 28 February 2024, in three equal instalments.
The top court asked the government to pay OROP dues to retired servicemen aged 70 and above in one or more instalments by 30 June 2023, and clear pending OROP arrears to six lakh family pensioners and gallantry award winners by 30 April.
“The Union government is duty-bound to comply with the judgement of this court in the terms of the OROP scheme,” it said.
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