Justice Surya Kant has been appointed as the 53rd Chief Justice of India, succeeding Justice Bhushan R Gavai. He will assume office on November 24 and serve until February 9, 2027.
Justice Surya Kant, who was elevated as a judge of the Supreme Court on May 24, 2019, would have a tenure of over 1.2 years as the CJI. He is due to retire on February 9, 2027.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday claimed that the Congress had been unwilling to accept Tejashwi Yadav as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) chief ministerial candidate and relented only after the Rashtriya Janata Dal pointed a 'katta', an unlicensed country-made gun, at its head.
The Indian government has refused to accept recommendations for a 10% pension increase for retired regular Army captains under the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme. The Supreme Court heard an appeal by the government challenging an Armed Forces Tribunal order that mandated a decision on pension for retired captains. The government's decision not to accept the recommendations has led to a delay in resolving pension anomalies for these officers. The case will be heard again on December 12, 2023.
The Supreme Court on Monday said the ministry of defence cannot take law in its own hands by issuing communication on payment of One Rank-One Pension (OROP) arrears in four instalments.
"I am personally averse to sealed covers. There has to be transparency in court... This is about implementing orders. What can be secret here," the CJI said.
The top court granted liberty to ex-servicemen association to file an application, if they feel aggrieved by any action of the Centre on payment of arrears of the OROP.
The decision taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will result in an additional annual expenditure of Rs 8,450 crore, according to the defence ministry.
It added that following this, the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare of Ministry of Defence vide communication dated November 7, 2015, conveyed the policy of OROP for the defence force personnel.
The Supreme Court on Monday came down heavily on the ministry of defence over its January 20 communication regarding payment of arrears of One Rank-One Pension (OROP) in installments to eligible pensioners of the armed forces.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that One Rank-One Pension (OROP) in Armed forces is a policy decision and suffers from no constitutional infirmity.
The apex court said there is no legal mandate that pensioners who held the same rank must be given the same amount of pension as it upheld the Centre's decision to give OROP in defence forces.
This is the second extension sought by the Union government to pay the arrears after it had first moved the top court in June and sought three months to compute and make payment.
The Supreme Court came down heavily on the Centre on Tuesday for failing to take any decision for years on the pension payable to retired regular captains of the Army in accordance with the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme and imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on it.
A delegation of ex-servicemen on Sunday met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and submitted a memorandum seeking "corrections" in the One Rank One Pension notification, as their protest on the issue entered the 203rd day.
'If Modi is talking to every Tom, Dick and Harry, why is he afraid of talking to ex-servicemen?'
Agniveers will be granted reservation in government jobs in Uttarakhand upon their return after serving in the armed forces, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced on Friday, as the nation observed the 25th anniversary of the Kargil Vijay Diwas.
Ex-servicemen on Saturday protested against the delay in issue of official notification by the government to 'one rank one pension' scheme as announced by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in September.
Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Friday said the government will soon implement 'One Rank, One Pension' scheme even as agitating ex-servicemen threatened to intensify their protest if any unilateral announcement is made which does not meet their long-standing demand.
The federation is now busy sending letters to the prime minister.
The government on Tuesday said it is not formulating any policy for implementing 'One Rank One Pension Scheme' for paramilitary forces.
Thousands of ex-servicemen across the country on Sunday converged at Delhi's Jantar Mantar to protest over the delay in implementation of the 'One Rank, One Pension' scheme.
The Rafale deal issue and the Kashmir situation also came up during the Congress president's 30-minute-long interaction.
Hawaldar (retd) Ashok Chauhan, on a fast-unto-death since August 18 over the non-implementation of the One Rank, One Pension scheme, was taken to the army hospital on Tuesday after his health deteriorated, in what is the second such case in as many days.
Agitating ex-servicemen on Monday continued with their relay hunger strike over the 'One Rank One Pension' issue at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi as they prepared for a mega rally this weekend to press for removal of "anomalies" in the OROP announced by the government.
Welcoming the government's decision to implement One Rank One Pension, agitating ex-servicemen on Sunday announced withdrawal of their hunger strike, but decided to continue their protest till all the "sticky" issues are resolved.
The Narendra Modi government on Saturday announced acceptance of the long-pending demand for 'One Rank One Pension' but the ex-servicemen who have been on agitation rejected the key details of the decision and said their 84-day long stir will continue.
The Congress vice president asserted that OROP was the right of military personnel and the government "will have to give it".
Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not fulfilling his promises, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on demanded a definite date for implementing the long-pending One-Rank-One-Pension for ex-servicemen as he joined their agitation in New Delhi.
The delay in receiving the revised pension was due to problems in calculation at his bank's end.
Hundreds of army veterans held a 'Sainik Ekta' rally to press for "honest and truthful justice" as they rejected the One Rank One Pension scheme announced by the government even as some ex-servicemen groups dissociated themselves from the demonstration.
The public agitation launched for the demand of OROP on June 6 completes 100 days.
Jaitley had on Monday had virtually ruled out annual revision of pension as demanded by agitating ex-servicemen under OROP.
Responding to Shagh, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah said the country was suffering from too much "ODOMOS- overdose of only Modi only Shah".
The long-pending 'One Rank One Pension' (OROP) scheme for ex-servicemen is likely to be rolled out ahead of the assembly polls in Bihar later this year, top government sources indicated on Tuesday.
The 70-year-old ex-serviceman Ram Kishan Grewal committed suicide by consuming poison at a park in New Delhi area on Tuesday evening.
Defence Minister Parrikar was in favour of granting OROP to ex-servicemen but pressure was exerted on him by his cabinet colleagues on the issue, Ram Jethmalani claimed.
"I am there to support the cause of ex-servicemen because I am an ex-servicemen's daughter," Singh's daughter Mrinalini was quoted as saying.
'It is important to make a clear distinction between the officers and jawans. The officers retire at 54 and with two extensions can go up to 58 years before they go home. A jawan on the other hand retires at 38. Therefore, to portray a picture that all army men retire young is wrong.'
Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party were on Saturday engaged in a bitter war of words over government's announcement of 'One Rank One Pension' with the opposition party calling its provisions "betrayal" of ex-servicemen while the ruling outfit accused Congress of playing a "joke" on veterans when in power.
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