Delhi HC issues notice on petition for gender-neutral territorial army exam

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice on a petition seeking directions to the Centre to conduct Territorial Army officer recruitment examinations on a gender-neutral basis, without prescribing separate vacancy caps for male and female candidates

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice on a petition seeking directions to the Centre to conduct Territorial Army officer recruitment examinations on a gender-neutral basis, without prescribing separate vacancy caps for male and female candidates.

In his petition, argued by advocate Mohit Paul, Kalra submitted that although the high court had paved the way for women’s entry into the Territorial Army in 2015 , the move remained only a partial measure. (Representative photo)

A bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia sought the Centre, the Department of Defence, and the Directorate General Territorial Army’s response in the plea filed by one Kush Kalra, while fixing December 4 as the next date of hearing.

In his petition, argued by advocate Mohit Paul, Kalra submitted that although the high court had paved the way for women’s entry into the Territorial Army in 2015 , the move remained only a partial measure.

He contended that the Centre has continued to reserve a substantially higher number of vacancies for male candidates, ranging from 12 to 18, while limiting female candidates to a single vacancy each year from 2022 to 2026.

It added that even this year, the examination subsequently conducted in July following a notification issued in May for the Territorial Army Commission Online Entrance Examination, which provided for 11 vacancies for male candidates and only one vacancy for female candidates.

“Such tokenism perpetuates the very constitutional wrong the high court sought to remedy,” the petition stated.

It further added that the Supreme Court, in August last year, had held that once women are permitted entry into a branch of the Armed Forces, the executive cannot impose discriminatory numerical restrictions in the name of policy or organisational requirements.

The petition contended that recruitment must instead be conducted on a gender-neutral basis through a common merit list.

“The maintenance of separate gender-wise vacancy caps and separate merit lists leads to a systemic situation where less-meritorious men can be appointed against male vacancies while more-meritorious women are denied appointment beyond the single female seat. This is a classic instance of indirect discrimination, where a facially neutral “organizational requirement” disproportionately and unjustifiably disadvantages women,” it stated.