E-Paper
High court upholds Armed Forces Tribunal ruling on reservist pension
The Punjab and Haryana HC upheld an AFT ruling, ensuring reservist pensioners receive two-thirds of a sepoy's pension, benefitting elderly pensioners.
In a relief to the pensioners in their 70s, 80s and 90s, a bench comprising Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma of the Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) has upheld a judgment of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), directing the government to release two-thirds of the pension as applicable to the lowest grade of sepoys to reservist pensioners as per regulations. The judgment passed by the AFT in July 2023 was challenged by the Central government in the HC.
During earlier times, sepoys used to be recruited under the Colour + Reserve system of enrolment under which, after serving for eight years in Colours and seven years in reserves (15 years of Colour and Reserve service), they used to be entitled to reservist pension which was regulated at the rate not less than two-thirds of what was applicable to the lowest grade of sepoy with 15 years of service.
Initially, reservist pension was ₹10 per month while the lowest grade of sepoy got ₹15 per month. Over the years, both categories reached near parity and then it was decided to formalise the two-thirds formula by the government from 1986 onwards, thereby amending the pension regulations of 1961 to ensure that reservists did not get more than two-thirds of a sepoy.
This two-thirds pattern got disturbed after the implementation of the one rank, one pension (OROP) scheme in 2014 wherein the reservist pension became less than half of what a sepoy of lowest grade was receiving.
When the affected reservist pensioners approached the AFT, the tribunal decided that although reservists were also sepoys, they could not be granted OROP equal to sepoys, however they were entitled to 2/3rd of what a sepoy of the lowest grade with 15 years of service was getting under the OROP. The extension of OROP to reservists was refused but 2/3rd protection at OROP rates for sepoys was granted by the AFT bench comprising Justice Shekhar Dhawan and Air Marshal Manavendra Singh.
The HC has now affirmed the order of the AFT.
Officers dealing with the subject say that the matter was also pending with the government for resolution for the last nine years with even the army headquarters requesting the government to restore the 2/3rd protection to reservists.
Ex-servicemen organisations in the recent past wrote to defence minster Rajnath Singh on excessive litigation initiated by the defence ministry across India in matters already settled by the Supreme Court and high courts, terming the move against the government’s own litigation policy.
