NEW DELHI: Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday that there was no "standardised
definition" for the One Rank One Pension scheme for retired defence
personnel, adding that the earlier "interpretation" for revision after
every retirement was not viable. Mr
Jaitley was responding in the Rajya Sabha to a question by Biju Janata
Dal (BJD) member Anubhav Mohanty, who wanted to know why the definition
of OROP had been changed.
"OROP has been a long-standing demand as far as defence forces are
concerned. OROP did not have a standerdised definition as such there
were different interpretations given," Mr Jaitley said. "After a
detailed consultation between the government and the organisation of the
retired defence personnel, the defence ministry came out with a
proposal that was announced in 2015 which the government has committed
itself to implement. Under that proposal, the revision takes place after
every five years," he said.
"The impact of the definition as you are mentioning, it was the earlier
interpretation that was given is at small periodic intervals when every
employee retires, then you would have a situation where a large number
of revision itself would take place which was financially not viable as
far as the government is concerned."
The minister said government has the responsibility to spend on various
areas, adding "defence forces certainly is one of our prime areas and
after consultation this particular definition which has been given by
the ministry has been implemented by the ministry."
Mr Jaitley also said that the pay
commission for central government employees "meets" every 10 years. "Pay
commission meets every 10 years, in case of armed forces it is five
years and that is the decision the government has taken. This itself
gives personnel certain advantage," he said.
On the one member judicial committee, the minister said he had asked for
shift extension. Groups of former serviceman have been calling the
five-year revision a distortion of the definition of OROP, and have
approached the Supreme Court on the issue.
(SOURCE- NDTV)
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