Paramilitary Forces awaiting government nod for One Rank One Pension OROP

Paramilitary Forces awaiting government nod for One Rank One Pension OROP


New Delhi: With the ‘One Rank, One Pension’ (OROP) scheme for military veterans set to be notified soon, officials of central paramilitary forces, too, may be in for good news soon as the government is likely to take a final decision on granting of “organised services” status to them.

New Delhi: With the ‘One Rank, One Pension’ (OROP) scheme for military veterans set to be notified soon, officials of central paramilitary forces, too, may be in for good news soon as the government is likely to take a final decision on granting of “organised services” status to them.

In a significant order by a division bench of Justices Kailash Gambhir and Najmi Waziri on September 3, Delhi High Court had asked the Centre to consider these forces as “organised services” and ensure non-functional financial upgradation (NFU) from 2006 in terms of the 6th Pay Commission.

“Home Ministry, the cadre-controlling authority of these officers, will soon take a final call in this regard as the court had given it eight weeks’ time to issue orders. That deadline will expire in the first week of November,” sources in the security establishment said.

They said the chiefs of these forces have also submitted their respective reports in this regard to the Home Ministry and have indicated that such upgradation should be granted to these personnel.

“Some officials of these forces, retired and serving, have also met Home Minister Rajnath Singh in this regard recently. He has assured them that the government will come out with its final decision soon,” they said.
Sources added that the government may take the final call on the issue post the declaration of Bihar poll results on November 8 as the model code of conduct is in place till then.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had yesterday said that the notification for the implementation of the OROP scheme for military veterans will be made “within days” of the Bihar poll process coming to an end.
“The government also has the option of filing a Special Leave Petition in Supreme Court for challenging the Delhi HC order. But the forces have requested the Ministry not to take this step and instead implement the HC order, as that would be a morale booster,” they said.

PTI

Government has one-week window to work on OROP plan

Government has one-week window to work on OROP plan
 

OROP Military Veterans

NEW DELHI: With Bihar elections due to be announced in around a week, the military veterans and the government have a narrow window to reach a deal on one rank, one pension. A package on its rollout may be tough to announce once the code of conduct comes into effect for the crucial contest.

Although there are indications of negotiators from both sides narrowing down their differences, they are yet to reach common ground on the issue of the annual revision of increments being demanded by ex-servicemen, which the government has dubbed as impractical. Instead, the government’s negotiators have proposed a reset every five years, something that is not acceptable to the veterans.

While the model code of conduct will kick in the moment elections are announced, an additional complication in the form of the recommendations of the seventh pay commission will come up. The pay panel is expected to submit its report next month but has not been tasked with OROP just yet. The government has proposed that the issue be looked at by the committee, but the ex-servicemen have not agreed to it.
The United Front of Ex-Servicemen has been protesting at Jantar Mantar for the past several weeks and finance minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said the gap had narrowed down significantly and reiterated that the government was committed to OROP.

But a few metres away from where the United Front of Ex-Servicemen have stationed themselves, a new tent has been erected by a group of personnel below officer rank (PBOR), who are distancing themselves from the United Front.

The Voice of Ex-Servicemen, which claims to be representing the ranks, launched a parallel agitation on August 23 and has submitted a memorandum to the government, which is yet to call it for consultation. It is seeking a restoration of the pre-1973 dispensation and has demanded 75% of the last pay as pension for PBOR. Further, it alleges that family pension for widows of jawans is meagre and so is the military service pay to compensate for difficulties during field posting.

“We were with the United Front but its demand will largely benefit officers who have ignored us and got a better deal for themselves,” said coordinator Bir Bahadur Singh.

Source: mlife.mtsindia.in