Govt urged to remove pension anomalies

Over 162,000 ex-servicemen (ESM) in the state are calling for an urgent redress of issues related to the recently revised the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme. The United Front of ESM (JCOs & OR) of Himachal Pradesh has requested the Central Government to form a judicial commission, comprising three retired judges of the Supreme Court, to address the perceived anomalies in the latest revision of the scheme.

The OROP scheme, initially implemented on July 1, 2014, was first reviewed in 2019 and had undergone a third revision effective July 1. A new notification was issued on September 4.

Capt Jagdish Verma (retd), chairman of the front, blamed the recent revision for “worsening” the existing anomalies. Verma claimed that updated pensions for Honorary Commissioned Officers (HCOs), Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs) and Other Ranks (ORs) showed that the disparity had rather increased.