New Delhi: A Parliamentary Committee has
asked the government to implement the long-pending demand of
'One Rank, One Pension' (OROP) by the retired armed forces
personnel.
"The Petitions Committee of Rajya Sabha submitted a
report to Parliament recommending the government to implement
OROP in defence forces and constitute a separate commission to
determine the pay, allowance and pension of the defence
personnel," said a release from Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev
Chandrasekhar.
Under the OROP, retired defence personnel are demanding
that all ex-servicemen should get similar pension for putting
in equal years of service and retiring at the same rank
irrespective of their date of retirement.
At present, the pension depends on the pay commission
under which they have retired.
The Petitions Committee was constituted following a
petition co-filed by Chandrasekhar for grant of OROP to
retired armed defence personnel and tabled its report in the
Rajya Sabha on December 19.
In its report, the Rajya Sabha Petitions Committee said
the financial liability of Rs 1,300 crores is not very big
amount to deny the parity in pension, the release said.
The Committee rejected Finance Ministry's apprehension of
that acceptance of the demand for equal pension to personnel
of equal rank and equal length of service will trigger similar
request from other government employees.
The Committee pointed out that "terms and conditions of
defence personnel and civil servants are vastly different and
said the demand of armed forces personnel demand for OROP was
unresolved due to bureaucratic apathy".
The Rajya Sabha Committee on Petitions is headed by
Bhagat Singh Koshyari (BJP).
PTI
First Published: Monday, December 26, 2011, 22:07