Women in army: Govt challenges HC ruling

The Government on Tuesday challenged the Delhi High Court judgment directing it to grant permanent commission to women officers who joined the army between 1992 and 2006.

The Government on Tuesday challenged the Delhi High Court judgment directing it to grant permanent commission to women officers who joined the army between 1992 and 2006.

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The appeal before Supreme Court comes a day after a HC bench issued a contempt notice against the Army Chief and Defence Ministry for failing to comply with its direction. The HC judgment was delivered on March 12.

One of the main grounds to assail the HC verdict is that under the Army Act women do not have the right to work with the force.

The appeal states that if a woman gets employed in the Army, she has to abide by the terms and conditions prescribed by the government. And, as per the condition, women officers are not entitled to permanent commission.

The second ground for challenging the judgment is that the high court wrongly based its judgment on an Air Force circular issued in 1992.

According to the appeal, the circular was applicable to Air Force officers and not to those belonging to the Army.

The appeal claimed that the Army was conscious of letting women join its force and had, therefore, in 2009 issued a notification offering permanent commission to the fairer sex
in specific departments, such as education, medical and legal.

The Centre, in its petition, has sought stay of the operation of the High Court judgement and its review.

In a landmark judgment, the high court had directed the government to allow grant of permanent commission to women serving in short service commission saying they “deserve better from the government,” that had shown reluctance in treating them on par with their male counterpart.

The bench had, however, turned down their plea of being allowed in combat operation.