FORMER Gurkha soldiers in Dorset are backing legal action in the High Court in London to win equal pension rights.

The British Gurkha Welfare Society opened a case yesterday against the Ministry of Defence on behalf of 24,000 former members of the elite Nepalese regiment who served before July 1997.

The society says the majority of the retired soldiers only get about a third of the monthly pension of their UK counterparts, and some 7,000 who served for less than 15 years before 1997 get nothing at all.

Gyan Tamang, a retired staff sergeant with the Queen’s Gurkha Signals and the chairman of the Blandford Royal British Legion, said the injustice must end.

“We are living in the UK as British citizens.

“The justification that they have used in the past – that the cost of living in Nepal is cheaper than in the UK – does not apply any more.

“We have to survive here.

“If there is a positive outcome from the High Court, that will be helpful and the right thing to happen.

“If there is a negative outcome, this issue will not go away,” said Mr Tamang.

The retired staff sergeant served for 21 years from 1984 to 2005.

But Mr Tamang said pension payments for his first 13 years of service are calculated at a rate equivalent to three years of service since 1997.

Dorset veteran Asbahadur Gurung, a former Queen’s Gurkha Signals captain with 28 years’ service, backed the High Court action.

“As a captain, my pension is about £250 month, but a British soldier of the same rank receives about £2,000.

“The agreement was made a long time ago between the Nepalese government and the Ministry of Defence,” said Mr Gurung.

Actress Joanna Lumley raised the profile of the regiment in the summer with a successful campaign for UK residency for all Gurkha soldiers with more than four years’ service.

A ruling on the British Gurkha Welfare Society’s plea for a judicial review is due to be delivered tomorrow (October 28).