CAPFs armed forces of the Union to be included in Old Pension Scheme: Delhi High Court

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court of Delhi on Tuesday passed an order on the implementation of the old pension scheme in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), terming the forces as the “armed forces of the Union of India”.

In Srinivas Sharma v. Union of India, the court recognised the central paramilitary forces as ‘armed forces of the Union of India’. The central government, in many cases, was not recognising the CAPFs as armed forces.

The case for petitioners was represented by Advocate Ankur Chhibber. Speaking to The New Indian Express he said, “The Court held that the CAPFs are an Armed Force of the Union as prescribed within Article 246 Schedule 7 of Constitution of India and hence are not covered under the New Pension Scheme as provided in the notification dated 22 December 2003 and thus all employees of CAPFs to be governed by the Old Pension Scheme.”

Under their Acts, all the CAPFs are termed as the “armed force of the Union”.

The New Pension Scheme (NPS) replaced the old System of Defined benefit Pension System came into operation w.e.f. 1.1.2004 and became applicable to all new entrants to Central Govt. service except to the three Armed Forces viz Army, Navy and Air Force. Under the NPS all Government servants have been making a contribution of 10% of their Basic Pay and Dearness Allowance (DA) which is deducted from their salary bill every month and in addition 14% is contributed by the government. Once the OPS gets into application the personnel will not be required to make this contribution.

Ranbir Singh, General Secretary, Confederation of Ex-paramilitary Martyr’s Welfare Association (CoEpMWA) expressed happiness and termed it as a step, “which will motivate the CAPF personnel who serve in tough terrain and conditions and are deployed across locations.”

The Total Sanctioned Strength of CAPFs stands at 11,09,511 personnel which come under  Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) includes, such as the Assam Rifles (AR), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Security Guard (NSG) and Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB). They function under the administrative control of the Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi. Only in the case of the AR that it functions under the administrative control of the MHA, its operational control rests with the Ministry of Defence. Of the CAPFs, the AR, BSF, ITBP and SSB are Border Guarding Forces. The NSG is a commando-trained force for anti-terrorist operations.

The CISF provides security and protection to industrial undertakings and vital installations. The CRPF is the lead internal security force and is also deployed in aid of civil power in matters relating to the maintenance of law and order and counterinsurgency.