As published by Maj Navdeep Singh on his IndianMilitary.info blog:-
Most readers would be aware that the orders regarding calculation of
pension of pre-2006 retirees based on minimum of pay within the pay band
for each separate grade/rank and not on minimum of the pay band itself,
with arrears from 01-01-2006 rather than 24-09-2012, were issued for
Central Government pensioners in July 2015 by the Government as per the
decision of the Delhi High Court, which essentially followed a decision
of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, and then upheld by the Supreme
Court. The High Court had held that the anomaly (though later removed by
the Government itself from 24-09-2012) had to be removed from the date
of the inception of the anomaly, that is, 01-01-2006. Similar orders
were later issued by the Ministry of Defence.
On a similar analogy, many decisions by various Benches of the Central
Administrative Tribunal (and then upheld by the High Courts) were
rendered de-linking the service requirement of 33 years for grant of
full pension for pre-2006 retirees at par with post-2006 retirees for
whom there is no such requirement. Some Special Leave Petitions
preferred by the Government against such orders were also dismissed,
though not by way of detailed decisions. The Punjab Haryana High Court
had also passed a detailed verdict on the same subject for pensioners of
the Central Armed Police Forces. Till date, the pensions of pre-2006
pensioners with less than 33 years of service (including weightage) were
being calculated by way of proportionate reduction.
Through this earlier post dated 22-01-2016, in view of multiple queries
in this regard, I had informed by way of general information that the
matter of issuance of orders on this subject for similarly placed
retirees was being examined by the Department of Pensions &
Pensioners’ Welfare, Ministry of Law & Justice and Ministry of
Finance.
The Department of Pensions and Pensioners’ Welfare has now issued
universal orders giving effect to the judicial decisions of the High
Courts and has removed the requirement of 33 years service for full
pension. Now, irrespective of length of service, all pre-2006 pensioners
shall be eligible for full pension as is admissible to those pre-2006
pensioners who had rendered 33 years or more service including
weightage. Full arrears are also admissible with effect from 01-01-2006.
The biggest gainers would be voluntary retirees and those released from
service on medical grounds or before completing full service. The orders can be downloaded by clicking here. Similar orders should now be issued for defence pensioners also by the Ministry of Defence.
A word of caution- This change would not affect the concept of
One Rank One Pension (OROP) applicable with effect from 2014 since while
this development is based on 50% of minimum emoluments introduced by
the 6th Central Pay Commission for each grade, the concept of OROP is
based on live data of actual pension based on real time emoluments as
per length of service of in-service personnel. Readers are hence
requested not to mix up the two dispensations which operate by way of
separate dynamics.
We must again place on record extreme gratitude to the Department of
Pensions and Pensioners’ Welfare functioning under Ministry of
Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions which has once again taken a
stand for all Central Government pensioners and ensured issuance of
universal directions just on simple dismissal of a Special Leave
Petition by the Supreme Court even without a detailed order. One cannot
also help but compare this with the attitude of the Ministry of Defence
which continues to file appeals against its pensioners and disabled
pensioners based on artificial distinctions even when the law has been
fully settled by the Supreme Court in a plethora of detailed landmark
decisions and which also militates against the grain of the opinion
expressed by the highest of political executive, including the Prime
Minister. I however maintain and retain full hope that the current
Raksha Mantri would be able to rein in the unruly horses.
Jai Hind.
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