OROP Defence Forces Personnel

Government of India
O/o THE PRINCIPAL CONTROLLER OF DEFENCE ACCOUNTS (PENSIONS)
DRAUPADI GHAT, PRAYAGRAJ- 211014

Circular No. 679

Dated: 04.12.2024

To

1. The Chief Accountant, RBI, Deptt. of Govt, Bank Accounts, Central Office C-7, Second Floor, Bandra- Kurla Complex, P B No. 8143, Bandra Hast Mumbai- 400051
2. All CMDs, Public Sector Banks
3. The Nodal Officers, ICICI/ HDFC/ AXIS/ IDBI Banks
4. All Managers, CPPCs
5. Military and Air Attache, Indian Embassy, Kathmandu, Nepal
6. The CDA (PD), Meerut
7. The CDA Chennai
8. The Director of Treasuries, All States
9. The Pay and Accounts Officer, Delhi Administration, R K Puram and Tis Hazari, New Delhi
10. The Pay and Accounts Office, Govt. of Maharashtra, Mumbai
11. The Post Master, Kathua (J&K) and Camp Bell Bay .
12. The Principal Pay and Accounts Officer, Andaman and Nicobar Administration, Port Blair

Subject: One Rank One Pension (OROP) to the Defence Forces Personnel.

Reference: Circular No. 555 dated 04.02.2016.

Pension Disbursing Agencies (PDAs) are aware that as per this office Circular No. 555 dated 04.02.2016, pension of Armed Forces Personnel was to be revised w.e.f. 01.07.2014 as per tables attached with the Circular,

2. Now, Competent Authority has decided that terms of engagement mentioned in Appendix “X” of Circular No. 555 dated 04.02.2016 for under mentioned ranks may be revised w.e.f. 30.05.1998 as under:-

3. All other terms and conditions shall remain unchanged.
4, Hindi version will follow.

No. Gts/Tech/ 0183/Vol-X
Dated: 04.12.2024

(S.K. Tripathi, IDAS)
ACDA(P)

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O/o THE PRINCIPAL CONTROLLER OF DEFENCE ACCOUNTS (PENSIONS)
DRAUPADI GHAT, PRAYAGRAJ- 211014

Circular No. 667

Dated: 28th Feb 2023

To

1. The Chief Accountant, RBI, Deptt. of Govt, Bank Accounts, Central Office C-7, Second Floor, Bandra – Kurla Complex, P B No. 8143, Bandra East Mumbai-400051
2. All CMDs, Public Sector Banks.
3. The Nodal Officers, ICICI/HDFC/AXIS/IDBI Banks
4. All Managers, CPPCs
5. Military and Air Attache, Indian Embassy, Kathmandu, Nepal
6. The PCDA (WC), Chandigarh
7. The CDA (PD), Meerut
8. The CDA, Chennai
9. The Director of Treasury, All States
10. The Pay and Accounts Officer, Delhi Administration, R K Puram and Tis Hazari, New Delhi.
11. The Pay and Accounts Office, Govt. of Maharashtra, Mumbai
12. The Post Master Kathua (J&K), Camp Bell Bay.
13. The Principal Pay and Accounts Officer Andaman and Nicobar Administration Port Blair.

Subject: Implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) revision to the Defence pensioners w.e.f. 01.07.2019.

Reference:- This office Circular No. 666 dated 20.01.2023 and MoD ID No. 4(5)/2016-D(P/L) Vol-IV dated 27.02.2023.

Government of India, Ministry of Defence letter No. 1(1)/2019/D(Pen/Pol) /Vol-II dated 20.01.2023 and No. 1(1)/2019/D(Pen/Pol) dated 04.01.2023 on the above subject have been issued in implementation of OROP w.e.f. 01.07.2019. This office has also issued necessary directive to all PDAs in implementation of same vide Circular No. 666 dt 20.01 2023.

2. Attention is invited to para 3 of this office Circular No. 666 dt 20.01.2023 vide which it has been directed that payment of arrears accrued on account of revision of pension, if any, shall be made in four equal half yearly installments, however. all the family pensioners including those in receipt of Special/Liberalised Family Pension and all Gallantry award winners shall be paid arrears in one installment as stipulated earlier.

3. In pursuance to Hon’ble Court order dt 27.02.2023 w.r.t. MA No. 219/2023 in WP(C) No. 419/2016, MoD has issued directions vide MoD ID No. 4(5)/2016-D(P/L) Vol-IV dated 27.02.2023 to pay full arrear in one instalment on account of OROP revision w.e.f. 01.07.2019 to all eligible pensioners by 15th March 2023. In order to ensure timely payment of arrears may be authorised before 15th March 2023 (in one go).

4. A copy of this circular along with the Government of India, Ministry of Defence ID No. 4(5)/2016-D(P/L) Vol-IV dated 27.02.2023 are also available on the website of this Office (www.pcdapension.nic.in).

Hindi version will follow.

No. Gts/Tech/OROP-II/ 0183/Vol-V
Dated: 28.02.2023

(Rajendra Kumar Gupta)
Asstt. Controller of Defence Accounts (P)

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No. 1(1)/2019/ D(Pen/Pol)
Government of India
Ministry of Defence
Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare

Sena Bhawan, New Delhi,
Dated, the 4th January, 2023

To

The Chief of Defence Staff
The Chief of Army Staff
The Chief of Naval Staff
The Chief of Air Staff

Subject: Next revision of pension of Defence Forces Personnel/ family pensioner under One Rank One Pension (OROP)

Sir,
The undersigned is directed to refer to the provisions contained in para 3(v) of this Ministry’s letter No. 12(1)/2014/D (Pen/Pol)-Part-Il dated 7.11.2015 regarding re-fixation of pension of Defence Forces Personnel under OROP in future every 5 years.

2. The President is pleased to decide that next revision of pension under OROP Scheme would be effective from 1.7.2019. Revision of pension is based on the principles adopted in MoD letter dated 07.11.2015 which are as under:

• 2.1. Pension of the past pensioners would be re-fixed on the basis of pension of Defence Forces retirees of calendar year 2018 and the benefit will be effective from 01.07.2019.
• 2.2. Pension will be re-fixed for eligible Defence Forces pensioners/family pensioners on the basis of the average of minimum and maximum pension of Defence Forces Personnel retired in calendar year 2018 in the same rank and with the same length of service.
• 2.3. Pension for those drawing above the average shall be protected.
• 2.4. The benefit would also be extended to family pensioners including war widows and disabled pensioners.
• 25. Arrears will be paid in four half yearly instalments. However, all the family pensioners including those in receipt of Special/ Liberalized Family Pension and Gallantry Award Winners shall be paid arrears in one instalment.
• 2.6. Personnel who opt to get discharged w.e.f. 01.07.2014 (on or after 01.07.2014) on their own request under Rule 13(3)i(i)(b), 13(3)II(i)(b), 13(3)II(iv) or Rule 16B of the Army Rule 1954 or equivalent Navy or Air Force Rules will not be entitled to the benefits of OROP.

3. Detailed instructions along with tables for revision of pension for each rank and each category under OROP Scheme, shall be issued separately.

4. This issues with the concurrence of Finance Division of this Ministry vide their ID Note No. 10(01)/2019/Fin/ Pen dated 30.12.2022.

5. Hindi version will follow.

Yours faithfully,

(B.L Meena)
Under Secretary to the Govt. of India

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Armed Forces Personnel retired up to June 30, 2019 to be covered; Over 25.13 lakh to be benefitted

Rs 23,638 crore to be paid as arrears from July 2019 to June 2022

Estimated additional annual expenditure for implementation of the revision calculated as approx. Rs 8,450 crore @31% Dearness Relief

Posted On: 23 DEC 2022

The Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved revision of pension of Armed Forces Pensioners/family pensioners under One Rank One Pension (OROP) w.e.f. July 01, 2019. Pension of the past pensioners would be re-fixed on the basis of average of minimum and maximum pension of Defence Forces retirees of calendar year 2018 in the same rank with the same length of service.

Beneficiaries

The Armed Forces Personnel retired up to June 30, 2019 {excluding pre-mature (PMR) retired w.e.f. July 01, 2014} will be covered under this revision. More than 25.13 lakh (including over 4.52 lakh new beneficiaries) Armed Forces Pensioners/family pensioners will be benefitted. Pension for those drawing above the average shall be protected. The benefit would also be extended to family pensioners, including war widows and disabled pensioners.

Arrears will be paid in four half-yearly instalments. However, all the family pensioners, including those in receipt of Special/Liberalised Family Pension and Gallantry Award Winners, shall be paid arrears in one instalment.

Expenditure

The estimated annual expenditure for the implementation of the revision has been calculated as approx. Rs 8,450 crore @31% Dearness Relief (DR). Arrears w.e.f. July 01, 2019 to December 31, 2021 have been calculated as over Rs 19,316 crore based on DR @ 17% for the period from July 01, 2019 to June 30, 2021 and @31% for the period from July 01, 2021 to December 31, 2021. Arrears w.e.f. July 01, 2019 to June 30, 2022 have been calculated as approx. Rs 23,638 crore as per the applicable dearness relief. This expenditure is over and above the ongoing expenditure on account of OROP.

Rank wise likely estimated increase (in rupees) in service pension under OROP w.e.f. July 01, 2019:

Background

The Government took a historic decision to implement OROP for the Defence Forces Personnel/family pensioners and issued policy letter on November 07, 2015 for revision of pension w.e.f.July 01, 2014. In the said policy letter, it was mentioned that in future, the pension would be re-fixed every 5 years. Approx. Rs 57,000 crore has been spent @Rs 7,123 crore per year in eight years in the implementation of OROP.

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On Wednesday, the Supreme Court concluded that the Armed Forces One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme is a policy decision with no constitutional defects.

According to a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, Surya Kant, and Vikram Nath, the Centre’s OROP policy choice is not arbitrary, and it is not for the court to intervene in government policy decisions.

It was ruled that the outstanding OROP re-fixation procedure, which had not been completed due to the pendency of a case before the court after the five-year deadline had elapsed, be completed on July 1, 2019, and that the pensioners’ arrears be paid within three months.

The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the Ex-Servicemen Association, which wanted to implement the Bhagat Singh Koshyari Committee’s suggestion of one rank, one pension, with an automatic annual review rather than the present five-year review.

The Supreme Court has stated that whatever decision it makes would be based on concepts rather than numbers.

It said that when revising after five years, the five-year arrears are not taken into consideration. Ex-troubles servicemen’s can be alleviated to some extent if the period is decreased from five to a shorter one.

According to the Centre, when the pay is revised after five years, the maximum last drawn pay, which takes into consideration all circumstances and is provided to the lowest in the bracket, is the golden mean.

On February 16, the Supreme Court ruled that the Centre’s exaggeration of the OROP programme painted a “far rosier picture” than what is actually delivered to Armed Forces retirees.

The top court took notice on a petition filed by IEMS through attorney Balaji Srinivasan on July 11, 2016, seeking adoption of OROP as proposed by the Koshyari Committee, with an automatic annual revision rather than the current policy of periodic review every five years.

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One rank One Pension latest news 2021

OROP

Contents

1. Gaps in the Earlier Pension Policy. 02
2. A long pending issue. 03
3. Steps taken by the Government 07
4. OROP benefits 08
5. Financial Benefits.. 09
6. Who benefits from the reform. 10
7. OROP Media Reports. 12

CHAPTER 1

GAPS IN THE EARLIER PENSION POLICY

Before implementation of OROP, the computation of pension was linked to the pay drawn by the personnel in a particular pay scale/ pay band at the time of his/her retirement. Pay scales are revised to the higher side generally on the recommendation of Pay Commissions. As such, the personnel retiring after the revision of the pay scales got more pension than those who had already retired. Hence, the gap remained in the pension of the past and present retirees.

Our soldiers were patient for 40 years. They have never been out of discipline. They have always respected the system. They kept asking for this scheme, and our soldiers who are ready to sacrifice their lives for our country, were lied to.

-Prime Minister Narendra Modi

CHAPTER 2

A LONG PENDING ISSUE

Ex-Servicemen had been agitating for implementation of OROP for more than 40 years, but the same was not finalized prior to 2015. The issue of ‘One Rank One Pension’ has been considered in the past by various committees and bodies and generally not found acceptable on account of the principles as well as significant financial implications not only for defence services but also for the civilian employees as a whole. The substance of recommendations of these committees and bodies is summarized as under:

3rd Central Pay Commission: It recommended weightages in qualifying service for pension from 3 to 9 years depending on the ranks.

High Level Committee on problems of Ex-Servicemen – 1984 (K.P. Singh Dev Committee): The Committee recommended that the Government should consider the issue of ‘One Rank One Pension’ particularly in the light of the principle, which has been already established with respect to the pension of judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts.

The 4th Central Pay Commission: The Commission observed that it is difficult to accept the suggestion for equalization of pension. Moreover, this would involve a considerable administrative and accounting work without conferring any uniform benefits to various categories of pensioners.

High Level Empowered Committee –1991 (Sharad Pawar Committee): No specific recommendation on the issue of ‘One Rank One Pension’ was given by the Committee.

5th Central Pay Commission: The Commission did not recommend grant of ‘One Rank One Pension’ by stating that every Pay Commission gives certain benefits in pay which are over and above the impact of inflation, either due to up gradation of recruitment qualifications or change in job contents. The benefits accorded on this account need not necessarily be passed on to the pensioners.

RM’s Committee Report (June, 2003): The RM’s Committee left the issue to be considered by the Inter-Ministerial Committee set up by the Government on the issue of ‘One Rank One Pension’.

Inter-Ministerial Committee: An Inter-Ministerial Committee was set up on 27.02.2003 by the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare to consider the demand of ‘One Rank One Pension’. The Committee, in its report submitted on 24.09.2004 did not favour grant of ‘One Rank One Pension’, but recommended grant of modified parity based on the maximum of the revised scale of pay introduced with effect from 01.01.1996 for PBOR.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence: The Committee in its 20th and 21st report reiterated their earlier recommendations for providing ‘One Rank One Pension’ to the Armed Forces Personnel.

Views of Ministry of Law on ‘One Rank One Pension’: “The present system has stood the test of judicial scrutiny. The same cannot be said for ‘One Rank One Pension’ and the legal feasibility of the same stands open to be adjudicated. Besides, there are financial aspects too that need to be kept in view”.

Group of Ministers: A Group of Ministers (GOM) was set up in January 2005 by the Government to look into this demand. GOM did not recommend ‘One Rank One Pension’.

6th Central Pay Commission: The 6th Pay Commission has also not recommended ‘One Rank One Pension’.

Cabinet Secretary Committee, 2009: The Committee went into this demand and other related issues, but did not recommended ‘One Rank One Pension’.However,it made seven recommendations aimed at narrowing the gap between past and current pensioners.

Standing Committee: The Standing Committee in its 7th and 9th (15th Lok Sabha) Report again reiterated their stand on ‘One Rank One Pension’.

Rajya Sabha Petition Committee: Rajya Sabha Petition Committee in its 142nd Report stated that the Government should implement ‘One Rank One Pension’ in the Defence Forces across the board.

Cabinet Secretary Committee (2012): The Committee did not recommend implementation of ‘One Rank One Pension’, however, it recommended various other ways to enhance pension of past retirees.

I had made a resolution before you for One Rank One Pension. You had to struggle a lot and launch movements during the tenure of previous governments. The nation is a witness to the same. Now the nation and you all are witnesses to the fact that not only has the One Rank One Pension been implemented but so far Rs.35 thousand crore has been distributed by our government. The government’s pension budget has increased from Rs.44 thousand crores to more than Rs.1 lakh 12 thousand crores.

– Prime Minister Narendra Modi

CHAPTER 3

STEPS TAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT

The Government accepted the ‘One Rank One Pension’ by way of its mention in the President’s address to both Houses of Parliament on 09.06.2014 after the constitution of 16th Lok Sabha and an allocation of ₹ 1000 crore was provided in the Budget 2014-15 for implementation of OROP.

In pursuance of the Government decision to implement OROP for Defence Forces, a series of meetings were held in the Ministry of Defence for working out the details of its implementation. Keeping in view the magnitude and complexity of Defence pension, extensive consultations were held with experts and Ex- Servicemen before issue of Government order on implementation of OROP.

Demonstrating its commitment to the welfare of Ex-Servicemen, Government of India took the historic decision to implement OROP by issuing order on 07.11.2015. Armed Forces Personnel retired up to 30.06.2014 were covered under this Order.

CHAPTER 4

OROP BENEFITS

OROP implies that uniform pension be paid to the Armed Forces Personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service regardless of their date of retirement. Thus, OROP implies bridging the gap between the rate of pension of the current pensioners and the past pensioners at periodic intervals. Salient features of OROP order were as under:

1. Pension of past pensioners would be re-fixed on the basis of pension of retirees of calendar year 2013 and the benefit will be effective from 01.07.2014
2. Pension will be re-fixed for all pensioners on the basis of the average of minimum and maximum pension of personnel retired in 2013 in the same rank and with same length of service.
3. Pension for those drawing above average shall be protected.
4. Arrears will be paid in four equal half yearly instalments. However, all the family pensioners including those in receipt of Special/Liberalized family pension and Gallantry award winners shall be paid arrears in one instalment.
5. Pension would be re-fixed every 5 years.

CHAPTER 5

Financial Benefits

To quicken the process of revision of pension/family pension under OROP, Government issued detailed orders on 03.02.2016 along with 101 pension tables indicating rates for revision of pension/family pension under OROP.

The existing pension of all pre 1.7.2014 pensioners/family pensioners were enhanced with reference to applicable table for the rank (and group in case of JCOs/ORs), with reference to the actual qualifying service as shown in the tables subject to maximum term of engagement for each rank as applicable from time to time. Pension of Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) absorbees who had opted for 100% commutation of pension, were also revised with reference to revised pension of the rank determined for regular category of pensioners.

Additional pension as applicable to the old age pensioners/family pensioners on attaining the relevant age (80 years and above) was also enhanced by the Pension Disbursing Authorities (PDAs) from 1.7.2014 or the date from which the pensioner attained the age of 80 years or more, whichever was later.

Years-wise details of actual expenditure made on release of arrears for implementation of OROP are as under:

Financial year – Amount disbursed on account of OROP arrears
2015-16 – Rs.2,861.55 crore
2016-17 – Rs.5,370.61 crore
2017-18 – Rs.2,563.24 crore
Total – Rs.10,795.40 crore

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Minutes of Virtual TSEWA Core Committee Meeting held at 1000 hrs on 27 March 2021

The following members attended:

1. Brig CS Vidyasagar President, in Chair
2. Cmde Sudheer Parakala Vice President
3. Col Dr GB Sethi General Secretary
4. Lt Col G Parvathesam Treasurer
5. Hony Capt B Joseph Joint Secretary
6. Brig SKS Rana, VSM President, TSEWA (Legal)
7. Col Srikatha Seshadri President, TSEWA (Karnataka)
8. Maj Gen SN Mukherjee President, TSEWA (WB)
9. WO Thiruchelvam President, TSEWA (Tamilnadu)
10. Cmde Kuldip Sandhu President, TSEWA (Mumbai Metro)
11. Cmde Ashok Kota Member
12. Lt Col Dr. K Bhaskar Reddy Member
13. Maj Dr. B Bhikshapathy Member

The President welcomed all present in the meeting and thanked them for their efforts to attend the virtual meeting. He requested the General Secretary to commence the proceedings.

Points of Discussion

Item No. I – OROP Case: The General Secretary informed that TSEWA has received a reply from the Min of Defence on 18 March 2020, to our letter dated 24 Nov 2020. The reply was a typical bureaucratic one which said that OMJC Report was submitted by Justice L Narasimha Reddy on 26 Oct 2016 and that it was referred to the committee for detailed examination. He requested the Core Committee to consider sending a letter to Hon’ble Justice Dr. Chandrachud of the Supreme Court to deliver the judgement in the OROP case filed by IESM at the earliest, with a copy to the three Service Chiefs, RM, FM, PM, and the President of India. He further informed that the case filed by IESM was listed on 24 Mar 2021 but no arguments were done due to paucity of time and other urgent cases. The next date of hearing is 07 Apr 2021.

Decision. It was decided that the matter be left with the President Legal Division to pursue the case.

Item No. II – Filing of Cases in AFT Mumbai: The General Secretary informed that the rates quoted by Shri YP Singh to take up TSEWA cases in Mumbai AFT are too high. Cmde KS Sandhu informed that he has explained to Advocate Shri YP Singh, about the details of fees being paid by TSEWA for AFT Cases filed in other courts. Brig SKS Rana, VSM, President, Legal Division interacted with him and found him to be quite knowledgeable.
Decision. It was decided that the President Legal Division pursue the matter with Shri YP Singh and finalise the rates and terms and conditions.

Item No. III – TSEWA Madhuri Sewa Fund: Brig SKS Rana, VSM has expressed his serious concern about the way TSEWA is working to utilize the Madhuri Sewa Fund to help civilian students instead of trying to help ESM Children. He has expressed that General Secretary should not have permitted misuse of the TSEWA platform by Col Nagesh Gupta for promoting the Madhuri Sewa Fund created in memory of his wife.

General Secretary informed that he is in no way involved in the Charity Activities performed by TSEWA Charity Division headed by Cmde Sudheer Parakala. Further, he explained how the clause of charity for Civilians was thrust by the IT Commissioner at the time of granting exemption under Section 12 A. However, he expressed his concern that students from only one College viz: Railway Degree College, Secunderabad were beneficiaries and other colleges were not considered.

Cmde Sudheer Parakala, Chairman of, Charity Division has explained that Col Nagesh Gupta is a 94-year-old veteran, staying in US, and has requested TSEWA to help him in finding suitable meritorious students at the earliest to utilize Madhuri Sewa Fund. He explained that a detailed mail was sent to TSEWA State Presidents to send the recommendations but in the absence of any recommendations, civilian children from Railway Degree College, Secunderabad were considered as recommended by Dr. Bhashyam, Principal who is related to Lt Col G Parvathesam. He reiterated that there was no favouritism and that the beneficiaries really deserved financial assistance. He also emphasized that all recommendations made by State Presidents should follow the checklist/Guidelines circulated a number of times before sending the recommendations since the cases are examined by IT Officials.

Lt Col G Parvathesam clarified further that the students identified are from four different colleges and not from a single college. Due to the prevailing pandemic conditions, we could not ascertain the economic condition of the students by physical verification at their residences. He assured the Core Committee that the students were from a very poor background and essentially needed urgent help to pay the college fees.

Cmde Kuldip Singh Sandhu, President, Mumbai Metro, TSEWA elucidated at length the method of charity and appreciated that Charity Div approved and helped a divorced daughter of a DAD employee whom he recommended. He further suggested TSEWA should be more flexible and respect the wishes of a donor who wants to help out somebody. As long as poor and meritorious children get financial assistance, it should not matter whether they are from school / college or different schools / colleges. That should be acceptable to all. The credit for such help goes to TSEWA and in the future, more and more donors will send their contributions to TSEWA. TSEWA he further added is respected by many veterans for the good work being done.

Brig CS Vidyasagar appreciated the efforts of the Charity Division of TSEWA for providing selfless services and in identifying and helping the poor students. He explained the need of considering the wishes of donors as long as it does not interfere with the functioning of TSEWA. He further added that all TSEWA executives are serving the organization devotedly and there is no scope of doubting their integrity and selfless services.

Item No. IV – Receipt of Donation by TSEWA: Maj Gen SN Mukherjee, President, TSEWA, West Bengal suggested that the donations from the donors should be received by TSEWA to extend the facility of Tax exemption to the donors. TSEWA should not ask the donors to deposit the donations directly into the beneficiary’s account.

Item No. V – Reimbursement of Hospital Charges by ECHS: Maj Gen SN Mukherjee has pointed out that the ESM is not able to get reimbursement of Hospital Charges in full when they are admitted to a non-empaneled Hospital. Col Srikantha Seshadri, a member of the Oversight Committee of ECHS has explained that the patient admitted in a Non- the empaneled hospital has to intimate the ECHS Polyclinic within 2 days from the date of admission and submit the bills within 90 days from the date of discharge. Patients are eligible for full reimbursement once the bill is sent for reimbursement through proper channel to MOD and approved by it. He added further that unfortunately the MOD has been found to be not so helpful to the ESM in this matter.

The President informed of the latest judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of possibly a member of CGHS who got admitted to a non-empanelled hospital. His bill for reimbursement was disallowed. He challenged the decision of CGHS authorities right up to the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The Hon’ble Supreme Court upheld the argument of the petitioner and directed CGHS to reimburse the expenditure incurred in the non-empanelled hospital. However, it is better to inform OiC ECHS Polyclinic within 48 hrs of admission in a non-empanelled hospital. The reimbursement is limited to CGHS rates. Maj Gen Shibnath Mukherjee informed that some of the ECHS members admitted in non-empanelled hospitals get only 60% of the expenditure incurred. The President cited the example of some of the empanelled hospitals in Hyderabad and Secunderabad when some of the ECHS members get admitted for certain medical procedures like heart valve replacement etc, the hospital informs the patient that the CGHS rate for that medical procedure is less than what the hospital charges and ask him to pay the balance. Though this is not ethical, the patient or his spouse has no alternative but to cough up the balance amount to get the medical treatment. These empanelled hospitals after accepting the rates of CGHS indulge in such practices.

Item No V- Financial Assistance: WO Thiruchelvam, President, TSEWA informed that a case he sent to help out a widow with three unmarried daughters was not actioned upon. Lt Col G Parvathesam, the Treasurer, informed that he himself went and met the old lady and her daughter in Secunderabad to check on the ground the economic condition of the family. They have some dispute on the ownership of an ancestral house. The case was considered by the Charity Division and a sum of Rs 25,000 was paid to her.

On this WO Thiruchelvam said that the case he sent 3 years back is for a widow in Tamilnadu and not in Secunderabad. On this, the President suggested to WO Thiruchelvam to remind the Charity Div. As far as his knowledge goes, Charity Div never turned down any proposal from any State Presidents of TSEWA who sent all documents required. It is very essential to check the genuineness of the case on the ground as the funds available are very limited. He gave an example of Smt Indira Arunachalam of Mumbai on the recommendation of Cmde Kripal Sandhu, President, TSEWA, Mumbai Metro got Rs 25,000 twice. She is the divorced daughter of Mr. Arunachalam who retired from PCDA (Navy) Mumbai. TSEWA helped those dependents of Def Accts Dept also when their own Department did not help the dependent of their own employees. He further cited the case of Reservist Mathew from Kerala who on the recommendation of Lt Gen Vinod Nayanar of Kannur was given Rs 25,000 for purchase of cow and a second-time similar amount was sent to him as a son of Reservist Mathew was found to be medically unwell.

Cmde Sudheer Parakala, Chairman of Charity Div added that in few cases documents are not received but only an email saying the case be considered and financial assistance be rendered. He further stated that since we got 12(A) and 80(G) all our financial assistance is scrutinized by the Income Tax department hence documents are necessary before financial assistance is rendered. He stated that it is not possible for Charity Div based in Hyderabad to go all over the country to check the authenticity of the case. Therefore the State Presidents have to take the initiative to check on the ground the genuineness of the case and send all the documents which have been sent to them time and again.

There being no further points, the meeting was closed at 12:20 PM. It was decided that the next Core Committee Meeting will be held at 1000 hrs on 10 Apr 2021.

Brig CS Vidyasagar (Retd)
President, TSEWA

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OROP Case in Supreme Court

The following members attended:

1. Brig CS Vidyasagar President, in Chair
2. Cmde Sudheer Parakala Vice President
3. Col Dr GB Sethi General Secretary
4. Hony Capt B Joseph Joint Secretary
5. Col Srikatha Seshadri President, TSEWA (Karnataka)
6. WO Thiruchelvam President, TSEWA (Tamilnadu)
7. Col LM Manongba President, TSEWA ( North East)
8. Cmde Kuldip Sandhu President, TSEWA (Maharashtra)
9. Cdr Chandrashekhar Member
10. Cmde Ashok Kota Member
11. Lt Col Dr. K Bhaskar Reddy Member
12. Maj Dr. B Bhikshapathy Member

The President welcomed all present in the meeting and thanked them for their efforts to attend the virtual meeting. He requested the General Secretary to commence the proceedings.

Points of Discussion

Item No. I. OROP Case in Supreme Court: General Secretary informed that the final hearing of the OROP case has been postponed for a later date and hoped that something positive comes out.

Item No. II. Vaccination of ESM: General Secretary hoped that vaccination of ESM is likely to be started in March and requested Col Srikantha Seshadri to approach HQ ECHS for early clarification of the procedure for vaccination of ESM.

Item No. III. TSEWA Office Building: General Secretary informed TSEWA has received a donation of Rs 36000/. last week and approximately Rs 1.00 lakh during the month. President hoped that more donations will be received after sending another request from him to all members. Cmde Sandhu reiterated that an agreement should be signed with the developer/builder and advance be paid from the donations received and the balance may be paid from a loan from the corpus. The loan could be repaid from future donations or savings. The President directed that the Committee may examine various proposals and finalise at the earliest before the real estate prices go up.

Item No. IV. Election of TSEWA Executive Committee: General Secretary informed that elections will be conducted during the General Body Meeting scheduled in Jun 2021 and the recommendations of NEC made during the last meeting would be considered for approval during GBM if there are no fresh nominations / contestants.

Item No. V. Donation from Lt Col VRS Ramana Reddy: General Secretary appreciated the veteran Officer for donation of Rs 10000/- for TSEWA office building and a Dell Laptop to Miss Sandhya who is studying in Degree Course. The laptop was found in excellent condition and only the battery had to be changed by TSEWA.

Item No. VI. Office Expenditure: General Secretary informed that TSEWA has reduced its office expenditure from Rs 1.25 lacs to Rs 75000/. after the resignation of the previous accountant and the load shared by Sreenivasa Reddy and Anand. He proposed to transfer this saving Rs 50000/- per month to TSEWA Office Building Fund. Core Committee accepted the proposal.

Item No. VII. COVID Vaccination of ESM in North East: Col LM Manongba informed that the staff at their polyclinic has been administered with the first dose of vaccination and they have found no adverse effects of the vaccination.

Item No. VIII. TSEWA Madhuri Sewa Fund: Cmde Sudheer Parakala has informed that Rs 1.16 lakhs was received from Madhuri Seva Fund and disbursed among 5 student beneficiaries of Railway College.

Item No. IX. Pension as per Notional Pay Method: WO Thiruchelvam has pointed out that PCDA has not fixed the pension of few ESM as per the Notional Pay Method, which is greater than the pension from OROP Method. President Brig CS Vidyasagar had advised such ESM to approach AFTs once they are functional, as TSEWA cannot file the case on their behalf.

Item No. X. Pitiable case of a Quadriplegic ESM Sep Sathya Narayan Raju: President explained the horrible conditions of quadriplegic patients bedridden for life and could not stop his tears in emotion. He informed that Brig PT Gangadharan, who himself is a Quadriplegic patient, has brought out a case of an ESM whose daughter is not able to pay the college fees due to the pitiable condition of the family and requested the TSEWA Charity Division to consider the case sympathetically as and when they receive the details from Veteran Brig PT Gangadharan. Further, he assured that TSEWA shall put in its best to get the Special Family Pension entitled to the family.

Item No. XI: Temporary TSEWA Office Building: Hony Capt B Joseph has offered the first floor of his house for the office till TSEWA shifts to New Office Building being purchased, so that TSEWA can save on some rent for the building. Further he suggested that the proposed new building should be nearer to the area where maximum ESM are settled. However considering the proximity to the bank, a ground floor house has already been finalized and that the office would be shifted by 01 Mar 2021.

There being no further points, the meeting was closed at 11:20 AM.

Brig CS Vidyasagar (Retd)
President, TSEWA

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Ministry of Defence

Five years of historic decision to implement OROP; Over Rs. 42740 Crore disbursed to 20,60,220 Defence Forces Pensioners / Family Pensioners

06 NOV 2020

Government of India took the historic decision to implement One Rank One Pension, OROP by issuing an order on 7.11.2015, benefit effective from 01.07.2014, despite huge financial burden demonstrating its commitment to the welfare of ex-servicemen. Armed Forces Personnel retired upto 30.06.2014 were covered under this Order.  Keeping in view the magnitude and complexity of Defence pension, extensive consultations were held with experts and ex-Servicemen before issue of Government order on implementation of OROP.

Ex-Servicemen had been agitating for implementation of OROP nearly for the 45 years, but the same was not implemented before 2015.

OROP implies that uniform pension be paid to the Armed Forces Personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service regardless of their date of retirement.  Thus, OROP implies bridging the gap between the rate of pension of current and past retirees at periodic intervals.

A sum of Rs. 10795.4 crore has been disbursed to 20,60,220 Defence Forces Pensioners/ Family Pensioners as arrears on account of implementation of OROP.  The yearly recurring expenditure on account of OROP is about Rs.7123.38 crores and for about six years starting from 01.07.2014, the total recurring expenditure worked out to approximately Rs. 42740.28 crore.

Demands of Defence Ex-servicemen on OROP requiring immediate action

OROP beneficiaries also got the benefit of fixation of pension under 7^th CPC while calculating the pension by multiplication factor of 2.57.

State-wise figures of amount released on account of OROP arrears as on 11.10.2019 are as under.

• Above mentioned nation-wide payment details did not include the details of Nepali pensioners.

Defence Bonus 2020 – Payment of PLB to Civilian Employees of Defence Production Establishments 2019-2020

Source: PIB

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ONE RANK ONE PENSION (OROP) & ISSUES OF CONCERN OF DEFENCE VETERANS NEEDING URGENT RESOLUTION

Dear Veterans,

Letter to Members of Parliament on the above subject dated 02 Nov 2019 is enclosed herewith for your information widest circulation please.

With Regards,
Jai Hind,
Yours Sincerely,
Maj Gen Satbir Singh, SM (Retd),
Advisor United Front of Ex Servicemen &
Chairman Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM)

Dated:  02 Nov 2019

“ONE RANK ONE PENSION (OROP) & ISSUES OF CONCERN OF DEFENCE VETERANS NEEDING URGENT RESOLUTION”

Dear Members of Parliament,

1.      We wish to bring to your notice that long pending demand of defence fraternity of OROP has not yet been implemented. Hon’ble Prime Minister and President of BJP Sh. JP Nadda have time and again stated at various forums that OROP has been implemented.  With grievously hurt feelings and anguish, we wish to inform you that such statements by our Hon’ble Prime Minister are of serious concern to us.  Had the OROP been implemented as per the definition stated by MoS Sh. Rao Inderjit Singh on 02 Dec 2014 in the parliament, the Ex Servicemen would not have been on the road across the country protesting for the non-implementation of OROP.  On 31 Oct 2019, Ex Servicemen have completed 1600 days of continuous Protest Movement executed peacefully with dignity, respect and in the best traditions of soldiering.

2.      There are serious anomalies in the Govt of India Min of Def Notification No 12 (I)/2014/D (Pen/Pol)-part –II dated 07 Nov 2015 wherein the Govt is purported to have implemented OROP.  The serious anomalies have been brought to the Notice of the Govt on numerous occasions, but these anomalies have not yet been rectified.  Ex-servicemen were forced to approach Hon’ble Supreme Court for grant of full OROP.  Hon’ble Supreme Court in its order dated 01 May 2019 (copy attached).  Asked the MoD to resolve the anomalies to the extent possible and the next date of hearing was to take place on 06 Aug 2019.  However, the Hon’ble judge hearing the case was busy in hearing Ram Mandir Case and our OROP case hearing was not listed.

3.      In the meantime we had a meeting with Hon’ble Raksha Mantri on 01 Jul 2019 and briefed him about Hon’ble Supreme Court order and requested for the rectification of the OROP anomalies. Hon’ble Raksha Mantri assured us for another meeting after a few days for the resolution of OROP anomalies; however, that meeting has not taken place even after writing to Hon’ble Raksha Mantri a number of times.

4.      During an Election Rally at Chandigarh President of BJP Sh. JP Nadda stated that his Govt had implemented OROP.  The same was denied by Ex-servicemen bodies. To add to our hurt feelings, Hon’ble Prime Minister on 19 Oct 2019 at Rewari in another Election Rally, again stated that his Govt had implemented OROP.  We wish to inform that this is far from truth.  OROP has not been implemented; what has been implement is One Time increase in Pension.  Unless the OROP anomalies are rectified, grant of Full OROP will remain unfulfilled.

5.       We also wish to inform you that equalization of pensions of defence personnel was due with effect from 01 Jul 2019 as per Govt Notification dated 07 Nov 2015, but the same has not yet been carried out. The Govt which had issued the notification has not honored its own order of equalization of Pensions after every five years which became due with effect from 01 Jul 2019. We had through a letter dated 03 Sep 2019 written to Hon’ble Raksha Mantri, copy to Hon’ble Prime Minister and three Chiefs and also forwarded the same letter to Secretary (ESW) requesting for immediate equalization of pensions as notified in Govt Notification dated 07 Nov 2015. MoD, instead of implementing equalization of pensions, ordered another committee whose recommendations have not been made public. The outcome of another, “One Man Judicial Committee (OMJC)” which submitted its report to the Govt on 26 Oct 2016 headed by Justice L. Narasimha Reddy, retired Chief Justice of Patna High Court has neither been made public nor implemented.

6.      We appeal to our elected representative, Hon’ble Members of Parliament to raise our issues of concern in the coming winter session and ask the Govt to grant Full OROP to the defence personnel, a demand which is long pending, though it had been accepted by both NDA and UPA Govts but not yet implemented. Our Hon’ble Member of Parliament, with anguish we wish to say that “any country which does not respect its soldiers is doomed to fail”.

Please grant Justice to Soldiers.

With Regards,
Jai Hind,
Yours Sincerely,
Maj Gen Satbir Singh,
SM (Retd), Advisor United Front of Ex Servicemen &
Chairman Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM)
Mobile: 9312404269, 01244110570
Email:satbirsm[@]gmail.com
(Source Via e-mail)

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