Amitha Muraleedharan
A bench of Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Asha Menon of the High Court of Delhi heard the 40 petitions challenging an order issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) sanctioning the benefit of pro-rata pension exclusively for commissioned officers and not to the Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs)/Persons Below Officer Rank (PBORs).
The advocate Pallavi Awasthi, appearing for the petitioner, challenged and argued that MoD’s order is unfair and sought a pro-rata pension.
The court reminded all the associates that the members of the armed force take oath on sacrificing their life for the country.
Also, they work under the command of a superior officer in all insecurities to their life.
Therefore the court said that the armed force deserves special treatment and is not to be “made ping pong of” while claiming relief.
They should not be harassed unnecessarily by sending them from one forum of judgment to another.
The High Court observed the plea and directed the IAF to grant a pension to the petitioner within 12 weeks overdue of pro-rata pension from the date of discharge till the date of payment.
The court also ordered the IAF to grant future pro-rata pension from March 2021 to them, and if overdue is not paid within 12 weeks, it will bear interest of 7 percent per annum from the expiry of 12 weeks till the date of payment.