Female, male Army officers can’t be evaluated for permanent commission on same criteria, SC told
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday informed that female and male officers of the Indian Army, comprise two unequal and distinct classes, and can’t be considered together for grant of permanent commission on the same criteria and cut-off marks.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and N Kotiswar Singh began hearing pleas of women Army officers of the Short Service Commission (SSC) who claimed being denied permanent commissions (PC) as a result of discrimination from their male counterparts.
The bench was hearing the pleas filed by serving officers and those released from service when it said after hearing the case, it would hear pleas of Naval officers, followed by officers in the Airforce, who have also been aggrieved by denial of PC.
Senior advocates Huzefa Ahmadi, Menaka Guruswamy and V Mohana and other lawyers represented SSC woman officers and pointed out a systematic discrimination.
Ahmadi appearing for woman officers, who were commissioned in September 2010, said they were entitled to get vacancies in terms of policy letter dated January 15, 1991 and any deviation from there while calculating the vacancies was patently illegal.
“Consideration of two unequal and distinct classes, i.e., women officers and gentlemen officers, together for grant of permanent commission (PC) by Selection Board No. 5 in December 2020, on the basis of same selection criteria and same cut-off is violative of principle of equality,” Ahmadi said.
He submitted the meeting of the selection board scheduled in June 2020 to consider the batch of 2010 was postponed and eventually 53 persons were refused PC on the ground of lack of vacancies.
Ahmadi said their vacancies had been wrongly calculated and the calculation was erroneous in view of the January 15, 1991 policy, which stipulates that calculation of vacancies is based on inter se batch strengths of the courses commissioned in one calendar year.
He said the year of conduct of board or declassification of result had nothing to do with calculation of vacancies for PC.
Counsel for other women officers contended there was casual grading of their annual confidential reports and denial of equal opportunities as compared to their male counterparts.
The bench proposed uniform guidelines in granting the permanent commission but pointed out factors such as specialised training to be kept in mind.
It also posed questions to the officers on what according to them should be the basis for assessment for permanent commission.
The top court was hearing a batch of more than 75 petitions challenging denial of permanent commission to them on various grounds.
The hearing remained inconclusive and would continue on August 7.
The top court said interim orders passed earlier would remain in force by which the Centre was restrained from releasing the officers from service till adjudication of their pleas.
On May 9, the top court asked the Centre not to release from service SSC women Army officers challenging the denial of permanent commission to them asking not to “bring their morale down” in “the prevailing situation”.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, has contended that it was an administrative decision based on a policy to keep the armed forces young.
Guruswamy, appearing for colonel Geeta Sharma had referred to the case of Colonel Sofia Qureshi, one of the two women officers who had briefed the media on the Operation Sindoor on May 7 and 8.
The officers have relied upon the 2020 verdict of the apex court by which the Army was directed to grant them permanent commission.
In its February 17, 2020, the top court said absolute exclusion of women from all positions, except staff assignments, in the Army was indefensible and their blanket non-consideration for command appointments without any justification couldn’t be sustained in law.
The apex court, which allowed permanent commission (PC) to women officers in the Army, said an absolute prohibition of women Short Service Commission officers to obtain anything but staff appointments evidently did not fulfil the purpose of granting PC as a means of career advancement in the Army.
The top court also referred to the distinctions achieved by women officers, and put out an example of Col Qureshi’s achievements.
Since the 2020 verdict, the top court has passed several orders on the issue of permanent commission to women officers in the Armed Forces and similar orders were passed in the case of Navy, Indian Air Force and Coast Guard.
