Indian Army grants 'Permanent Commission' status to 39 SSC women Army officers

In a key development, Indian Army on Friday has gone ahead with its decision to grant 'Permanent Commission' to 39 women officers. This comes in the backdrop of a report earlier in October which claimed that a total of 71 women 'Short Service Commission' officers, who were denied Permanent Commission had moved to the apex court of India seeking the same.

A Permanent Commission means a career in the Army till an officer retires. It means that if an officer gets selected through Permanent Commission entry then you have the option to serve your nation up to the age of retirement (60). Whereas in Short Service Commission (SSC), an officer has the option of joining the Army and serving as a Commissioned Officer for a period of 10/14 years.

What did the court's order say?

Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice BV Nagarathna, who is soon to become the first woman Chief Justice of India had taken up the petition and was hearing the matter. In the petition, 71 women Short Service Commission officers, who were denied Permanent Commission, had gone to the Supreme Court seeking the same. Senior lawyers V Mohana, Huzefa Ahmadi, and Meenakshi Arora were representing the women officers and had challenged that their disqualification was against the Supreme Court's judgment passed back in March, which directed the Indian Army to grant Permanent Commission to all women Short Service Commission officers who met the criteria. While passing the judgment, the Supreme Court directed the government to ensure that the new service status of the 39 officers is granted within a span of seven working days.

What about the rest of the officers?

The Centre, post their evaluation, had notified the Supreme Court that out of the 71 officers, only 39 were found eligible for Permanent Commissions. While subjecting about the ones not selected the centre stated that seven were medically unqualified and 25 carried with them some "issues of discipline". The Supreme Court then directed the centre to give a detailed report explaining the reasons why the 25 were not eligible for Permanent Commission. On October 1, the court had directed the government not to release any of the officers from service.

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