Clear OROP arrears to 25 lakh veterans by March 15, govt told

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to clear the arrears under the one-rank-one-pension (OROP) policy to retired servicemen by March 15 even as attorney general R Venkataramani said disbursement of arrears are likely to commence prior to the deadline.
The AG informed a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha that tabulation of pension due to 25 lakh retired servicemen has been completed by the comptroller of defence accounts, Allahabad, and that its vetting is only left to be carried out by the ministry before payments are released.
Appearing for the retired servicemen, senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi told the court that the government was required to make the payments in 2019 and that it had continuously breaching the deadlines set by the SC. He said nearly four lakh pensioners have passed away awaiting the arrears of pension. He also drew the court’s attention to a government letter which allegedly revealed that the arrears in pension would be released in four equal six monthly instalments. Let this be done at one go, he requested the court.