Respected Sh Bhagat Singh Koshyari,
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On behalf of following officers and myself, I am attaching the memorandum on one rank one pay (OROP) for your consideration.
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With warm regards
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Yours sincerely,
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Col D P Gupta
Col P N Baveja
Lt Col R L Guleria
Lt Col Didar Singh Rakkar
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Sh Rakesh Naithani
Jt Director, Rajya Sabha Secretariat
Parliament House Annexe
New Delhi-1100001
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MEMORANDUM IN RESPONSE TO PUBLIC INPUTS SOUGHT WITH REFERENCE TO PETITION PRAYING FOR GRANT OF ONE RANK ONE PENSION TO THE ARMED FORCES PERSONNEL
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Meaning of OROP,
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‘One Rank One Pension’ or OROP means that a soldier's pension be determined by just two factors: his rank and the length of his service. That is, two military pensioners who retired in the same rank after rendering equal service should get equal pension irrespective of their dates of retirement. Nobody has so far cogently rebutted this rationale to be unreasonable.
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Hon'ble Supreme Court's ruling is that ,'' Pension is 'Deferred Wages' for the 'services rendered' earlier''. Hence all those who rendered the 'same services' earlier should get the same ''Deferred Wages'' (Pension) later.
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'Services rendered' have two components, i.e. 'Quality' and ‘Quantity’. In the Military, 'Quality' is defined by the 'Rank' ACHIEVED and 'Quantity ‘by the length of service.
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Rationale
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In our Constitution Defence Services do not appear in the list of Government Servants Therefore it is recognized that the Services are unique. This fact remained recognized till 2nd CPC wherein the Pensions were under the Head ‘MILITARY PENSIONS’
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That time retirees used to get ‘One Rank One Pension’ in the form of ‘’Military Pension’’, wherein the old retirees got same pension as the new ones in the same rank. Also at that time , to compensate for their early ‘’FORCED RETIREMENT’’ to keep the military young , they used to get up to 75 % of the pay drawn as pension , where as the civilians used to get 33% of pay as pension , since the latter served for very long duration up to 55 to 58 years of age . However with the 3rd Pay Commission, ‘’Military Pension’’ was done away and their pension was reduced to 50 % and that of the civilians’ was increased from 33% to 50%. Also, the pension rules applicable to the Civilians, like getting full pension after 33 years, were made applicable to the military as well, fully forgetting that the defence persons could not put in 33 years of service , since they were forcedly retired , starting from 17 years for a Sepoy. With each promotion they got couple of years more to serve and with the exception of some officers none could put in 33 years of service. Various wieghtage in years were given later to enable them to get closer to 50% of pay. However with the weightage , no increase in ‘PAY’ was given .
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With each Pay Commission Award, the pay of all ranks goes up but those who retired earlier their pension does not increase much because it is based upon old lower pay scales. While health related and other financial responsibilities of older retirees keep on increasing , their pension , which is a function of ‘Rank’ held , being peculiar to military only, does not increase proportionately . After the award of 6th Pay Commission, the difference in pensions for a Sepoy is over Rs 3000/- and that of a Col is about Rs14, 000/ for those who retired after and prior to the applicability of its ‘award’. This is grossly against the ‘Law of Natural Justice’ and violates Article 14 of our Constitution which emphasizes need for ‘‘Equity’’.
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The concept of rank is unique to the military. Those in non-military services may carry designations/posts like 'director general', ‘secretary’ etc. but these have no formal sanctity the world over. However, those in/from the military are always referred to by their ranks, even after death.
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While those serving in the military retire by rank, the other government employees retire by age. To keep the forces young, all jawans retire in their mid-30s; all JCO’s retire in their mid-40’s and the bulk of officers retire in the early fifties. Only a handful-about 60 Lt Gens serve up to 60 years. On the other hand, all civilian government employees serve up to the age of 60 years, whether they are peons or constables or secretaries and DGP’s. Since the date of retirement also determines the quantum of pension, with each pay commission (with periodicity of 10 years), the military veterans who retired early receive lesser pension compared to those who retired later with the same rank and same service. As military pensioners are subjected to three or more pay commissions in their lifetime, they have to suffer the disparities bred by it every 10 years.
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The take-home package of a jawan for example and a constable hardly bears comparison, as the jawan starts getting half pay (pension) at the average age of 35 years, while the constable continues to serve till the age of 60 years, thus getting full pay for another 25 years. In addition, he gets pay rise with each subsequent pay commission, as well as increments. Furthermore, if we take the current average age of death (67 years), the constable will perhaps see only one pay commission after his retirement but the jawan will see a minimum of three or four pay commissions, each of which will further downgrade his pension when compared to the serving jawans or his comrades who retired in subsequent years. Where is equity and fairness? Should the veteran not get compensated? OROP will fill this lacuna.
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Every Parliamentary Committee has accepted and recommended the grant of One Rank One Pension. The Judiciary in several judgments has supported. Punjab and Himachal Legislative Assemblies have unanimously passed the Resolutions for the grant of OROP. Political Parties have also supported the demand. The Govt excuse is that acceding to OROP demand entails increase in Govt Servants Pension. In fact there is no comparison with Govt Servants in view of Constitutional stipulation that Defence Services are not listed as Govt Servants. Defence Service responsibilities, condition of Service, hazardous living conditions to the peril of life, forfeiture of Rights and Liberties and so on are unique. There is no commonality with the Govt Servants.
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In view of the foregoing, we request your honour that the OROP be granted to the Armed Forces veterans at the earliest and their honour is restored.
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Col D P Gupta
36, Sector 12 Panchkula
Pin 134112
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Lt Col R L Guleria
535, Sector 12 Panchkula
Pin 134112
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Lt Col Didar Singh Rakkar
534, Sector 12, Panchkula
Pin 134112
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