13 Jun 2014
Sh Arun Jaitley, Hon’ble Raksha Mantri,
Ministry of Defence, South Block, New Delhi-110011
Sh Arun Jaitley, Hon’ble Raksha Mantri,
Ministry of Defence, South Block, New Delhi-110011
Sub: IMPLEMENTATION
OF ONE RANK ONE PENSION (OROP)
Dear Sh Arun Jaitley,
At the outset, I would like to thank you for yesterday’s fruitful
meeting, and would also request you for personal perusal of this letter, at
your level.
BJP in its Manifesto had assured the Defence fraternity that OROP will
be implemented. PM, Mr. Narendra Modi
during his election Rallies had announced that BJP will implement the OROP in
letter and spirit. In a Rally near
Ludhiana (Jagraon), he had assured the Defence Veterans that actual OROP will
be implemented. You are aware that
defence personnel across the Country had supported the BJP since it was the
only Political Party which had assured that their demands and requirements will
be accepted in case it came to power and these were included in its Manifesto.
It was heartening to hear President in his address to both houses of Parliament
also mentioning that OROP will be implemented soon as gratitude to the soldiers
for their sacrifices to the Nation.
It is with this assurance in mind, I had the privilege to attend
the meeting yesterday ie. on 12th June 2014 Chaired by you, where
in, the services Headquarters had briefed on the implementation OROP. The Draft Govt Letter (DGL) prepared by the
Service HQs is in line with the accepted definition of OROP and is as per
executive orders given by the then Defence Minister Mr. AK Antony during his
meeting on 26th Feb 2014. The
minutes of the meeting alongwith the executive orders are enclosed for your
perusal.
I wish to bring to your notice a fews issues which came up for
discussion during the meeting yesterday:-
·
The definition of OROP
accepted by the Govt and given out by
the then RM on 26 Feb 2014 is the same
as accepted by the Petition Committee of Rajya Sabha on OROP Chaired by the Shri
Bhagat Singh Koshyari which presented its report on 19 Dec 2011 to the Rajya
Sabha.
·
Based
on the above definition, Koshyari Committee after due deliberations with the
Secretary Finance and secretary expenditure had worked out the requirement of
funds of Rs 3000 Crores in 2011. With 10
percent of inflation every year, it works out to Rs 4000 Crores in 2014. This amount is nothing for the Nation to meet
the long pending demand of defence fraternity. OROP has been assured to them by
none other than Sh Raj Nath Singh ji President BJP and Sh Narendra Modi Prime
Minister India. OROP and welfare of ex-serviceman is a main essence of BJP
manifesto. Government has promised that all promises made in manifesto will be
honoured asap.
·
The
then Govt had earmarked Rs 500 Crores as initial indicated amount and had mentioned in the
order of 26 Feb 2014 that additional fund as required will be made available.
·
It
was accepted even by the last Govt that disability and family pensioners will
be included in the grant of OROP.
·
The
Model I and Model 2 by the PCDA/CGDA/DESW must be outrightly rejected since
these had never ever come under any discussion on OROP. These, to our mind had been brought in as red
herring by elements of lower bureaucracy of the DESW and the Defence Accounts
Department in conjunction with the UPA Govt to delay the grant of OROP as per
the accepted definition. It may be emphasized here by us again that the
definition as announced on the floor of the house and also accepted in writing
by way of a Govt of India letter, cannot be held mortgage to the thought
processes or personal opinions of bodies of accountants.
·
The
model presented by the Defence Services HQ is in line with the accepted
definition of OROP and fully meets its requirement. Acceptance of any other model will not be
OROP as per the accepted definition.
·
All
the objections raised by the PCDA/CGDA/DESW had been effectively contested by
the Service HQs and need to be ignored.
·
Rates
of pensions are enhanced every year since the basic pays of serving soldiers
are enhanced at the rate of three percent every year. In order, to implement the OROP, there is
need to adopt a simple workable dynamic model to enhance the pensions every
year. If this is not implemented,
juniors will start drawing more pension that their seniors. In that event, protection clause will need to
be applied which will be difficult to implement and will cause delays.
·
Rank
pay case as per the SC judgement when implemented would need to be incorporated
in OROP.
·
Requirement
of Rs 9100 Crores required for OROP as
stated by CGDA does not seem to be in sync, as no details had been given by the
CGDA to the service HQs. We would like to bring to your knowledge that it is
very easy for accountants to play with numbers on noting sheets and file
notings in order to twist the entire amount and make it seem prohibitory
thereby trying to negatively influence the political executive. It is also not
understood as to how is the figure provided by even the Expenditure Secretary
before a Parliamentary Committee is being now twisted in an attempt to
breakaway from the accepted definition of OROP.
·
The
Govt is committed to implement the OROP as per the accepted definition whatever
be the requirement of funds.
In view of the above, the following recommendations are made:-.
1. The Draft Govt
Letter (DGL) prepared by the Services HQ for the implementation of OROP as per
the accepted definition as already announced in the Parliament and as already
issued in writing by the Govt, be sanctioned and implementation letter issued
at the earliest.
2. The amount required to implement the OROP as
per the above DGL be made available.
3. Disability and
family pensions be duly incorporated in the OROP.
4. Rank Pay case
Judgement of SC when implemented be incorporated in the OROP.
5. Any further decision or meeting on the issue
may not be taken merely on the inputs of Defence Accounts Department or the
DESW and may only be taken after due consultation with all stake-holders so
that unilateral points of view can be effectively countered whenever required.
With regards,
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only fools are sitting in mod to spoil the nation and country,its main weapon
ReplyDeletewhich is defence forces by inducting demoralisation because of their way of
denying genuine salary and also degrading it from IIIrd cpc in a cunning way.
god blesss the bureaucracy to hell