First, the Rajya Sabha Committee on Petitions aka Koshyari Committee was told that the 3rd CPC stopped One Rank One Pension (OROP) in 1973 after the Indian Armed Forces liberated Bangladesh. Then they fought legal battles without a shred of supporting evidence that it was indeed so. Now, the honourable Principal Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal is being provided with the same mistruths. This piece does not deal with the alleged injustice by denial of OROP to those who left service on PMR but provides facts about the 3rd and 4th CPC and their recommendations for pensions for Armed Forces personnel.
2. To understand the context, please read the 87 pages long Order dated 31 Jan 25 of honourable AFT, PB in OA No 313 of 2022 with MA 415 of 2022 & MA 416 of 2022 and tagged OAs. Link to the Order is https://aftdelhi.nic.in/assets/judgement/2025/OA/OA%20191of%202025%20Arun%20Kumar.pdf
3. The definition of One Rank One Pension (OROP) in the MoD letter No. 12(1)/2014/D(Pen/Pol) – Part II dated 07 Nov 2015 reads as follows: -
“2. It has now been decided to implement ‘One
Rank One Pension’ (OROP) for Ex-Servicemen with effect from 1.07.2014. OROP
implies that uniform pension be paid to the Defence Forces Personnel retiring
in the same rank with the same length of service, regardless of their date if
retirement, which implies bridging the gap between the rates of pension of
current and past pensioners at periodic intervals.
4. In Paras 5 and 12 of the Order of the AFT, PB it is recorded, inter alia “The applicants giving the background of the issue of ‘One Rank One Pension’ (OROP) stated that till 1973 Armed Forces personnel had the parity of pension irrespective of date of retirement in a particular rank with same length of service popularly known as ‘One Rank One Pension’ (OROP) but the same was discontinued from the 3rd Pay Commission from 1973 onwards….” (emphasis supplied).
5. This
not borne out by recorded facts
(a) Armed Forces pensioners drew Standard Rate of Pension and not One Rank One Pension as defined in the ibid letter dated 07 Nov 2015.
(b) Para 6, Chapter 53, Volume III of the 3rd CPC’s report (available at https://indianculture.gov.in/reports-proceedings/report-third-central-pay-commission-1973-vol-iii) states “….Although there are some variations in the age of compulsory retirement and tenure of appointments in a rank among the different groups of officers belonging to the three Services, ……, the pension rates prescribed are uniform for all Service officers of the same rank. The standard rates of pension for officers of the three Services in force from time to time are given in the table below (emphasis supplied): -
TABLE IV
(in rupees)
|
Rank |
Between 1-6-53 and 16-4-56 |
Between 17-4-56 and 30-9-61 |
From 1-10-61 |
Post DCR Gratuity pension after 10-9-70 |
|
(1) |
(2) |
(3) |
(4) |
(5) |
|
2nd Lt/Lieut |
275 |
275 |
300 |
272 |
|
Captain |
350 |
350 |
425 |
377 |
|
Major |
475 |
475 |
550 |
482 |
|
Lt Colonel |
625 |
625 |
675 |
587 |
|
Colonel |
675 |
675 |
750 |
638 |
|
Brigadier |
725 |
800 |
825 |
696 |
|
Maj General |
800 |
875 |
875 |
735 |
|
Lt General |
900 |
900 |
900 (975 from 12.10.1970) |
819 |
|
General |
1000 |
1000 |
1000 |
840 |
The amounts in columns (4) and (5) of the above table are current rates of pension; rates in column (4) pertain to the amount of pension admissible where no DCR Gratuity is payable and those in column (5) to pension admissible in conjunction with DCR Gratuity.
xxxx xxxx xxxx
(c) In
Para 13, the 3rd CPC report states, “13. After much
deliberation, we have reached the conclusion that the most appropriate method
of providing a compensatory element in pension rates would be to add a certain number
of years of service to the period of qualifying service prescribed for earning
full pension for the various ranks and applying for each year of service the
rate of 1/80 of the maximum pay fixed for that rank. In the context of our conclusion that the standard rate system for the
pension of Service officers should be continued, the weightage of additional
years cannot be added to the length of service actually rendered but it has to
be added to the minimum period prescribed for earning pension of the rank.
Our calculations show that the two benefits in combination, viz., (a) taking
the maximum of pay of the rank and (b) adding a period of 5 years, subject to
the total not exceeding 33 years, would provide a reasonable degree of
compensation. This approach can be adopted only for officers retiring in the
rank of Brigadier or below. Further, in the case of Lt Colonel, we have found
it necessary to give additional weightage in order to maintain comparability in
the order of increase proposed over the existing pension rates in the Armed
Forces and on the civil side. Thus, we have added an extra year for officers in
the rank of Major and two years for officers in the rank of Captain or below.
It is to be noted, however, that the chances of a Service officer retiring
below the rank of major on a normal pension are remote and these rates have
relevance mainly for determining the amounts of disability and invalid
pensions. For senior officers, the pension will have to be determined on the
basis of reasonable differential because in their case the pay of the rank
exceeds the maximum of the emoluments reckoned for pensions on the civil side”
(emphasis supplied).
(d) In Para 14, the 3rd CPC
report states, inter alia, “In accordance with the above principles,
we recommend the following standard
rates of pension for Service officers after provision of the DCR Gratuity (emphasis supplied): -
TABLE V
|
Rank |
Minimum length of qualifying service |
Proposed pension (Rs p.m.) |
|
Subaltern |
20 years |
325 |
|
Captain |
20 years |
500 |
|
Major |
22 years |
625 |
|
Lt Colonel |
24 years |
700 |
|
Colonel |
26 years |
850 |
|
Brigadier |
28 years |
1000 |
|
Maj General |
30 years |
1050 |
|
Lt General |
30 years |
1100 |
|
General |
30 years |
1150 |
6. Therefore, it is fair to understand that irrespective of whether an officer drew the minimum or the maximum of the scale for a rank, the Standard Rate of Pension was a fixed amount appropriate to his rank but was not termed One Rank, One Pension.
Example: Pay scale for a Colonel was Rs 1550-1930. Whether one Col A with 26 years service drew Rs 1550 or Col B with 29 years service drew Rs 1930, both received the Standard Rate of pension of Rs 850 (as long as both completed 26 years of service).
[Though not relevant to the OA, the 3rd CPC recommended as follows for PBoR: -
“43. After detailed consideration, we have reached
the conclusion that the right course would be to adopt the same approach for
determining the pensions of personnel below officer rank as we have commended
in relation to Service officers, viz., adding a weightage of 5 years to the
prescribed length of qualifying service, subject to the total length of service
reckonable for pension not exceeding 33 years, and applying the formula of 1/80
of emoluments as on the civil side for calculating the pension amount in conjunction
with DCR Gratuity. We also proposed that
the maximum of the pay scale prescribed for various ranks should be taken into
account for calculating the pension of the rank. The addition of 5 years in
cases where the period of qualifying service prescribed for earning pension of
the rank is less than 20 years is a substantial benefit, which, we feel,
provides adequate compensation for the liability to recall and the problems
occasioned by early release from the Services, such as the transition from
military to civil life, and the attendant uncertainty about securing suitable
civil employment. We would again emphasise that the Government’s efforts should
be viewed as a whole, and the adequacy of the 5 years weightage should be
judged in the light of the package of other measures for the resettlement of
released personnel from the Armed Forces (emphasis supplied)].
7. Reverting to the OA, further, the statement of the counsel for respondents at Para 36 of ibid Order that OROP is a new concept has been contested by the counsel(s) of the applicants in Para 41 in ibid Order. The definition on 07.11.2015 (re-produced in Para 2 above) above differs from definition of Standard Rate of Pension (para 4 above) that prevailed even in the 3rd CPC.
8. At
Para 44, Page 48 of ibid Order it is stated that, “..The scheme was being implemented till 1973 when the Third Central Pay
Commission took a decision to revoke it “is contrary to the Report of the 3rd
CPC.
9. Standard Rate of Pension was not revoked by
3rd CPC but was superseded when Govt accepted the recommendation regarding
a common method of calculation of pension by the 4th CPC in 1987
for all civilian Govt employees and Armed Forces personnel (Officers and PBoR).
10. 4th CPC’s report, Part II, Chapter 13 titled Recommendations for Non-Effective Benefits for Armed Forces states, inter alia,
“…..13.10. The Services Headquarters have suggested that the quantum of pension for each rank should be calculated at a flat rate of 50 per cent of the maximum pay (including rank pay). We have recommended improved pay scales for armed forces personnel in Part I of our report. The time span of many of the scales for personnel below officer rank has been further improved by government at the time of implementation of our recommendations. We have recommended in chapter 5 that pension which confers a long term benefit should be related to basic pay only and that instead of the slab system, it should be calculated at 50 per cent of pay drawn during the last ten months of service. We recommend that for armed forces personnel also pension should be worked out on a similar basis with rank pay added to basic pay (emphasis supplied).
We have recommended ceiling of Rs 4500/- per mensem on basic pension in Chapter 5. This will apply to armed forces personnel also.
11. In Chapter 5, at Para 5.19 the 4th CPC Report states, “– Pension Fixation: - The existing pay slabs in the pension formula are related to the pre-revised pay structure. These would need modification in the light of the revised pay structure recommended by us in Part I of the report. The Parliament has in a recent enactment, namely the High Court and Supreme Court Judges (Conditions of Service) Amendment Act, 1986 fixed a pension of Rs 4500/- per mensem for Judges of the Supreme Court on salary of Rs 9000/- per mensem and a pension of Rs 4000/- for judged of the High Court on salary of Rs 8000/- per mensem. The pension thus payable works out to 50 per cent of the salary. Keeping this in view and to simplify and rationalise matters, we recommend that pension may be calculated at 50 per cent of pay for all categories of Central Government employees” (emphasis supplied).
Report available at this link http://www.cgspublicationindia.com/Pdf/Pay%20Commissions/Fourth%20Pay%20Commission/4th%20CPC%20(Report,%20Part-2).pdf)
12. The problem/complication in applying the 4th CPC formula is that not every Armed Forces officer of a certain Course/batch and rank (Colonel A) or another of the same Course/batch and rank (Colonels B, C or D) though they might have the same years of service (28 years) will draw the same total emoluments on the date of retirement. This is because Col A might be promoted earlier and Cols B, C and D promoted later subject to merit/vacancies.
13. Therefore,
(a) Officers of the same rank with the same number of years of service will draw different amounts as total emoluments on the date of retirement, thereby their pensions will be different.
(b) The protection for those earning higher pensions than OROP.
(c) The definition of One Rank One Pension dated 07 Nov 2015 cannot assure that all officers of the same rank with same number of years of service will draw the same amount as pension.
* * * * * * *
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