Former Gurkha faces three-year wait for decision on equal pay

A Gurkha who is demanding compensation for being paid at a fraction of the rate other members of the armed forces get faces a further three-year wait before the case is resolved, an employment tribunal heard yesterday.

Former Lance Corporal Hari Thapa is demanding equal pay and pension rights with British veterans after his exemplary discharge five years ago. But a tribunal in Cardiff heard today it could be 2005 before proceedings finish.

Victory for Mr Thapa, of Cwmbran, south Wales, could spark a flood of claims from up to 30,000 Gurkhas and 6,000 widows. The maximum bill to the Ministry of Defence has been put as high as £2bn.

The tribunal has ruled that it can look at matters that began before October 1 1997. The Ministry of Defence is appealing, and Robin Allen QC, for Mr Thapa, said that will probably not reach the Employment Appeal Tribunal until next Easter.

He said: "I have to tell my clients when the case will be concluded. I don't want to say it will be 2004 or 2005.

"They will say that is not justice. It was 1997 when Mr Thapa stopped being under orders. That is a huge delay. This case has already gone on for five years.

"It is also very stressful. Mr Thapa expected to have a formal decision on this case in March or April. It was listed in February for disposal of all issues. I cannot see it would be possible for this tribunal to dispose of this matter earlier than 2004.

"There is a real danger that we will have two sets of appeals. It would be eight years after the case started."

Mr Thapa previously told the tribunal he received only a percentage of the pay of his British colleagues because of "institutional race bias".

It amounted to a difference of £43,000 over his 15-year service. He was paid a basic rate of just £17.50 a month while he was in service and a £58 monthly pension after his exemplary discharge in 1997. British Army lance corporals would have received a pension of £500 a month after the same period in service, he said.

During a hearing in February this year the MoD was accused of "delaying tactics" by the tribunal's chairwoman, Dr Rachel Davies.

Alison Macdonald, for the MoD, said today: "We would be horrified if the resolution of this matter was in 2005, but we don't really see how that would arise. We simply don't think that it would stretch to 2005."

Mr Thapa holds a British passport as he was born in Hampshire, where his Gurkha father was stationed.

But because of his Nepalese background, he was recruited to the armed forces under a 1947 tripartite agreement between the UK, India and Nepal, which links Gurkhas' pay and pensions to those in the Indian army.

The MoD argues that Gurkhas' pensions are adequate because most of them retire to Nepal, where the cost of living is a fraction of that in the UK.

Gurkhas are not covered by the Race Relations Act 1976 because they are recruited and discharged in Nepal, the ministry argues.

Mr Thapa's case is being backed by the Commission for Racial Equality, which said that it should determine whether the MoD's responsibilities under the Race Relations Act outweigh the terms of the tripartite agreement.

The case was adjourned for further hearings this autumn.