Army Dental Corps recruitment: Punjab and Haryana HC notice on plea challenging 90% reservation for men

The plea was from a dental surgeon Dr Satbir Kaur who was an applicant for SSC in the ADC. As per the plea out of 30 total vacancies, Army has reserved 27 seats for men and only 3 for women

The Punjab and Haryana high court has sought response from the central government on a plea challenging the Army’s decision to reserve 90% vacancies in the Army Dental Corps (ADC) for males. The high court bench of justice GS Sandhawalia and justice Jagmohan Bansal while seeking response by December 13 also directed that the petitioner woman be interviewed provisionally. However, final result would be subject to out of the plea in high court. Detailed order of the proceedings is awaited.

The HC bench while seeking response by December 13 also directed that the petitioner woman be interviewed provisionally. (Representational Image)

The plea was from Dr Satbir Kaur of Punjab, a dental surgeon, who was an applicant for Short Service Commission in the ADC. As per the plea out of 30 total vacancies, the Army has reserved 27 seats for men and only 3 for women. The clearing of National Eligibility and Entrance Test for Masters in Dental Sciences (NEET-MDS) is a qualifier for applying for ADC. While males till the NEET rank of 2934 have been called for interviews, women only have been called till the rank of 235, plea says.

The recruitment in ADC, which is permissible upto the age of 45 years was gender-neutral till last year and such recruitment where rules permit both males and females to join cannot be encumbered with reservation for men which is anyway not permissible under Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution of India, the plea argues.

During the hearing, it was pointed out that in the recent judgments, the Supreme Court have come down heavily upon the defence services for contravening gender-parity based on stereotypical and regressive statements which were termed ‘baseless’ and ‘disturbing’ by the apex court. Apex court had directed for equality in opportunity of employment in the defence services except combat arms, the court was told.

It was further submitted that while the political executive and Central government had always supported gender-parity in the military other than combat roles, the military authorities were contravening not only constitutional provisions but also judgments of the Supreme Court and official statements of the political executive.