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| Kathmandu, Sunday February 23, 2003 Falgun 11, 2059. |
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London High Court
rejects Gurkhas’ claim
GAESO says its concerns are addressed
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Feb 22 : The London High Court on
Friday rejected Gurkhas’ claim that they are entitled to the same pay, pensions and
perks as their British army counterparts, but the Gurkha Army Ex-Servicemen’s
Association (GAESO) said that the court verdict has addressed the former and present
Gurkhas’ concerns.
"We have not lost the case," Mahendra
Lal Rai, the secretary of the GAESO told The Sunday Post Saturday. "The court has
said that there is a huge disparity between the cost of living in Britain and Nepal. But
now the issue can be settled out-of-the-court - through talks between Britain’s
Ministry of Defence and GAESO."
"If that fails again, then we may have to
go to the court of appeal," he added.
After days of hearing, the court on Friday
rejected the Gurkhas’ claim that they were entitled to the same pay, pensions and
perks as their British army counterparts, according to agency reports. Judge Jeremy
Sullivan ruled that the disparity between the cost of living in Britain and Nepal was too
great for the claim to succeed.
Referring to pensions, he said, "It would
be wholly irrational to fail to have regard to the wholly different circumstances that
exist in Nepal and the United Kingdom. Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the
world."
Meanwhile, the British embassy in Kathmandu said
in a statement today that the judge also acknowledged the proactive approach of the
Ministry of Defence in constantly reviewing terms of service against the principles laid
down in the (1947) tri-partite agreement - between Nepal, India and the United Kingdom.
The outcome, according to the statement, lifts a
number of uncertainties facing the Brigade for some time. "And (it) allows the
Brigade of Gurkhas, as an integral part of the British Army, to focus on preparing for
operations including the Gulf and Sierra Leone."
"The ruling reinforces, thus enabling the
continued recruitment of Gurkhas into the British Army and the ongoing provision of
welfare and free medical support to our ex-servicemen in Nepal."
The GAESO, meanwhile, has welcomed the court
verdict, saying it has paved the way for ending all kinds of discriminations against
former and present Gurkhas soldiers. "The court has ruled that the tri-partite
agreement should be reviewed in such a way as to ensure equality in pay, perks and other
facilities to the Gurkhas," the statement says.
The feared fighters who hail from the Himalayan
foothills have served with the British army since 1815, battling through many bloody
encounters in two world wars as well as serving more recently in the Falklands, the Gulf
War, Kosovo and East Timor.
Currently there are more than 3,500 Gurkhas
serving in the British army. But until 1998, there were 10,000 of them, who were serving
with the British army. But while pay and conditions for their British counterparts have
kept pace with modern times, former and present Gurkhas say they are shackled by a
colonial era agreement.
The group of seven soldiers involved in the test
case that ended on Friday in London’s High Court were represented by Cherie Booth,
the barrister wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said in
London that last year there were 27,000 applicants for 230 places in the Gurkha regiments.
Had the Gurkhas’ succeeded in their claim,
experts say, the British government would have faced a bill of more than $1 billion to
compensate past and current Gurkhas.
In November last year, in a separate claim,
three elderly retired Gurkhas who survived years in Japanese prison camps in World War II
won a High Court challenge to the government’s decision not to extend prisoner of war
compensation payments to Gurkhas. The court ruled that decision had been
"racist".
The former and present Gurkhas had filed cases
primarily against four types of discriminations. They were also preparing to claim
compensation from the British government for over 1,000 ex-Gurkha prisoners of war.
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