Madurai: The Madras High Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a petition seeking a direction to issue a notification to implement the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme within a stipulated period.
Acting on the petition by ex-serviceman S Chinnadurai, Justice S Vaidyanathan ordered notice to the Cabinet, Finance and Defence secretaries and sought their reply within two weeks.
The petitioner contended that 90% of the ex- servicemen are living below the poverty line. Previous governments had already announced OROP and allocated Rs 500 crore for it. On May 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also assured that OROP would be implemented by the government but no timeframe had been given, he alleged.
The Indian ex-servicemen movement had also sent a memorandum and he had also submitted a representation. Chinnadurai said it was mandatory on the part of the government to implement OROP before the fiscal 2014-15 after announcing the scheme.
The delay in implementing the scheme would demoralise serving soldiers and ex-serviceman and adversely affect the integrity of the country, he said. He said that armymen, who sacrificed the better part of their youth for the country, were not even getting proper jobs after they retired between 30 and 40 years of age.
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