Today, the Supreme Court sharply criticized the Centre for its prolonged inaction on addressing the pension discrepancies under the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme for retired Army captains. The Court imposed a ₹2 lakh fine on the government and granted a final deadline of November 14 for resolving these pension issues.

The division bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice R. Mahadevan warned that if the anomalies are not rectified by the deadline, they will mandate a 10% pension increase for the affected officers. The fine is to be paid into the Army welfare fund within four weeks.

Justice Khanna said, "What is this? If the government is not taking a decision, I cannot do anything. This does not give solace to these officers. They are retired captains. They have no say. They have no access to you people. Either you start paying 10 per cent more or pay the cost. The choice is yours." As soon as the bench started dictating the order for enhanced pension for the retired captains, Bhatti asked it to kindly impose a cost because that will serve equity better than enhanced pension.

"In these circumstances, we are inclined to impose exemplary costs and also direct that the regular captains will get pension enhanced by 20 per cent from the date the OROP scheme is applicable. However, as a last opportunity to enable the appellant to obtain instructions, re-list on July 30," the bench had said in its July 23 order.

The Centre's Additional Solicitor General, Aishwarya Bhatti, acknowledged that six anomalies identified by the Kochi bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) remain unaddressed, attributing the delay to the need for a holistic review. Despite the government's request for additional time, the Court emphasized its frustration with the ongoing delays since the matter first arose in 2021.

The AFT had previously instructed the Ministry of Defence to address these issues based on a 2016 committee's recommendations, but the government’s appeal has stalled progress. The case will be reviewed again on November 25