New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to accept a sealed cover note from the Center on disbursement of pension to ex-servicemen under the “One Rank One Pension (OROP)” scheme, saying “there cannot be secrecy in the court”.
When Attorney General R. Venkataramani produced a sealed cover before a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, he flatly refused to accept it and said it has to be shared with the other party.
To this Venkataramani said that the note was ‘confidential’.
The Chief Justice of India then remarked: “I am personally against sealed envelopes. What happens, we see something, he doesn’t see. And we decide the case without showing it. It is basically a judicial process.” It is opposite to. There cannot be secrecy in court. Court should be transparent. Secrecy in case diary makes sense… accused is not entitled to it, or something that affects the source of information or someone’s life Affects. But it is payment of pension as per the directions of our judgement. What can be the great secrecy in this?”
When the advocate general pointed out that there were some “sensitivity issues”, Justice Chandrachud remarked: “When you claim privilege, we have to decide that claim.”
He said: “We need to end this sealed cover procedure which is being followed in the Supreme Court because then the High Courts will also start following. And it is fundamentally contrary to the basic process of fair justice.”
Following these remarks, Venkataramani read out the note which stated that the budget outlay was not sufficient to meet the expenses.
Incidentally, the Defense Ministry has been criticized by the apex court in previous cases for not adhering to the timeline for OROP dues payment.
The arrears are in the range of Rs 28,000 crore and the number of pensioners is around 25 lakh. The Venkataramani note states that the Ministry of Defense had taken up the matter with the Ministry of Finance which instead of paying the dues in one go had suggested different payments.
Representing the ex-servicemen, senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi then submitted that the installments were due back in March 2019.
Ahmadi said: “They have served the country in the best years of their lives and why is it that they are the last priority of the government… They are now saying that they will pay in April 2024. This is highly unfair.” “
The bench then issued several directions, including asking the Center to make payments to family pensioners and gallantry award winners in one go, on or before April 30, 2023.
read full order Here,