NEW DELHI: Expressing its displeasure on the Centre for delay in paying the pension and other entitlements of retired regular captains under the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme, the Supreme Court on Tuesday imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on the UOI to address the issue in a timely manner.A two-judge bench of the top court, led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice R. Mahadevan, while sternly warning the Centre forits lackadaisical attitude in handling the issue, gave a final warning and deadline by November 14 to rectify the anomalies related to the pensions of these retired officers under the OROP scheme. While highlighting that Rs 2 lakh fine must be deposited into the Army welfare funds and warned that if the government will fail to resolve the issues by the given date, it will be forced to take an extreme step in directing an increase in the pension by 10 percent for the retired captains. During the course of the hearing in the top court today, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhatti, senior law officer representing the Centre, failed to answer the queries of the court, which asked her for how many years will this go on? She was at the receiving end on Tuesday, as the apex court had tough questions for her. The SC asked her, why a decision was not taken still? How much time you will take?”Either you pay an enhanced pension by 10 percent or we are imposing a cost on you. We wanted a decision to be taken, but you have not taken it,” Justice Khanna said, and added that this matter came up in 2021 but still no decision has been taken. She acknowledged that the Kochi bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) had identified six anomalies that need to be addressed by the centre. The government has, however, has not taken any final decision regarding this. After hearing this, the bench expressed dissatisfaction over the government’s answer and alleged inaction, as it wanted to know from the UOI, as to how long the issue would remain unresolved.Bhatti, however, trying to pacify the court by saying that the government could not make a piecemeal decision, as it needed to address all the six anomalies and other issues, if any, comprehensively.She further clarified that the resolution might affect other aspects of pension disbursement. “All I can do is tender my apology. Please give us one more chance, we will sort out all the pension and issues,” Bhatti said. The top court, after noting the submissions of Bhatti, fixed the matter for further hearing to November 25.
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