Women Army officers serve legal notice as SC order on permanent commission is ignored

Complying with the Apex Court's verdict of granting permanent commission to females in the security forces, 72 women officers from the Indian Army have issued a legal notice to the Defence Ministry over strict compliance with the SC order.

"The notice has been sent on behalf of 72 women officers who are fully entitled to be granted permanent commission on the basis of a clear and unambiguous order of the Supreme Court on 25 March this year," Counsel for the women officers, Major Sudhanshu Pandey said.

Major Pandey stated the mandate has clearly directed the Defence Ministry and authorities concerned not to compare the women officers with the standards of the male counterparts of their batch. He added that the order gives permanent commission to all women officers who were found unfit by the Number 5 Selection Board held in September last year and those who had obtained 60% marks. The Defence Ministry had been allotted two months to implement the same.

As per the petitioners, the Army, after three months, had moved an appeal seeking explanation on the grounds that the Board has found these 72 officers unfit even though they had a score of above 60%. They also accused that the Indian Army had not brought to the notice of the Apex Court their decision to disqualify candidates for other reasons such as negative marking etc, which are not the criteria for disqualification.

Pandey said that the clarification had been dismissed on August 2 for being devoid of any merit, and that these officers are now being kept under 'suspended animation', which has caused severe mental stress to them.

The lawyer also alleged that the junior officials, out of their deep-rooted prejudice against women officers, are trying to mislead the higher authorities to recommend rejection of permanent commission to these officers, which is a clear case of disobedience of the order of the Apex Court.

"We wanted to apprise the decision-makers of the repercussions of such defiant order inviting contempt and therefore the notice has been sent to all officials including the Defence Secretary and Chief of Defence Staff. We hope and pray that the better sense prevails to these authorities and they don't adopt an attitude of confrontation with court orders," Pandey said.

Meanwhile, the women officers of the Indian Army claimed that as per the Apex Court's directions, all women officers had fulfilled the cut-off grade of 60% in the Special No 5 Selection Board held in September 2020, fulfilled the medical criteria as prescribed by the General Instructions dated 1 August 2020 on 5/10th year of service, and were not under any disciplinary and vigilance ban. This implies that the women officers should be granted a commission.

The Supreme Court in the month of March had asked the Indian Army and Indian Navy to consider the grant of the permanent commission for eligible women officers who were excluded on the ground of fitness standards. A two-judge Apex Court bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah had ruled that the Army's selective Annual Confidential Report (ACR) evaluation and late implementation of the medical fitness criteria discriminate against women officers. Subsequently, the top court directed the Army to consider the grant of the permanent commission for women officers within a month.