Don’t bring caste consideration in admission to military schools: Supreme Court
Hearing a clutch of petitions on intake of women and girls in the National Defence Academy, Rashtriya Indian Military College and other military schools, a bench led by justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul underlined that a beginning has been made by opening up these schools to women and the issue of caste-based reservation should not divert the focus of the court.
India’s armed forces are a “homogenous unit” that should not be divided on the basis of caste or creed, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday, rejecting a plea for caste reservations in admission to military schools.
Hearing a clutch of petitions on intake of women and girls in the National Defence Academy, Rashtriya Indian Military College and other military schools, a bench led by justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul underlined that a beginning has been made by opening up these schools to women and the issue of caste-based reservation should not divert the focus of the court.
“You cannot have caste reservation in military schools. Constitutional provisions for the reservation do not work in this way...We are focussed on gender issues and would not want you to divide it into other issues of caste, etc.,” the bench, which also comprised justice MM Sundresh, told advocate Kailas More.
On Tuesday, More, who raised the issue of gender discrimination and bias in the military college, the Rashtriya Military Schools and the Sainik Schools in his petition, had pleaded for the court’s indulgence in considering caste-based reservation to ensure all communities could join the armed forces.
More’s arguments failed to impress the court. “You cannot apply principles of civil employment here. An officer is an officer in the armed forces. Someone is from Uttar Pradesh, someone from Tamil Nadu...but they are a homogenous unit. You cannot segregate them on the basis of caste,” it retorted.
The prime issue in the batch of petitions was to ascertain women also get admissions in military schools, the court observed, and now that the Union government and the armed forces are on board with the idea, digression to caste considerations was not appropriate.
“We are focussed only on gender issues...don’t divide it into other issues. A revolution doesn’t come overnight. It takes time. There is a beginning made. Social changes take some time and here, the first chapter has been written. Let the first chapter get over,” the bench told More.
Meanwhile, the bench recorded a statement by additional solicitor general Aishwarya Bhati, who represented the central government, that vacancies for women candidates have been created for the military college while the same course would be followed for the military schools as well.
About induction of girls in Sainik Schools, the bench recalled an announcement made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech in 2021. “The PM said something about intake of girls in Sainik Schools. What is the status?” it asked Bhati.
Bhati said some girls were admitted to Sainik Schools on an experimental basis. “That experiment was successful. But I don’t have the exact data in this regard,” she submitted.
At this, the court asked the law officer to submit the relevant data by the next date of hearing on July 19.
During the proceedings, the court expressed its satisfaction over the outlook shown by the armed forces as it agreed to give three months more to the Union government to decide whether the intake of women cadets in the defence academy need to go up from the current 19.
In response to the court’s query in January on limiting the intake of women cadets to 19 for each batch of the defence academy, the government through an affidavit justified restricting the intake for the time being, claiming the number is based on sound rationale and current requirement of the armed forces.
The exam for entry to the National Defence Academy is conducted twice a year.
The government maintained that “a considered decision has been taken” to allot 10 vacancies for women cadets in the defence academy for army, three for navy and six for air force. While the air force has decided to keep the intake of women cadets to six per batch for the next five years, said the government, a comprehensive assessment would be required to ascertain whether the total strength of women cadets need to rise in the future for the army and the navy.
The affidavit filed through the defence ministry argued that proportional strength of women cadets in the academy is presently adequate given the cadre structure in the armed forces and “smooth assimilation of desired changes in the organisational environment”.
It also sought to “establish the intent of the defence forces in correct perspective” before the court by pointing out that at present, women officers, including those in the Army Medical Corps and the Military Nursing Service, constitute 13.6% of the officers and thus, India followed only the US, Australia and France in having significant representation of women in its forces. The US defence forces comprise 17% women, followed by Australia and France, which have 16.5% and 15% women, respectively.
On Tuesday, the bench highlighted some of these points in its order while agreeing to give an additional three months to the government for concluding its deliberation. The court order said that the picture that emerges from the latest affidavit is that “women are being inducted into all streams” and appreciated Bhati for her assistance “not just as a law officer, but also as a woman.”
Dismantling the institutional barrier that lasted for 65 years, the top court in August 2021 dismissed the government’s argument that the restriction against women from training at the Pune-based defence academy was a policy decision, while issuing the interim order to let them write the exam in November.
The bench urged the government to “take a more constructive view of the matter”, prompting the latter to come back to the court in September 2021 with a policy decision to open the doors of the academy to women cadets.
Under the eligibility criteria at that point of time, only male candidates who cleared high school and were in the age group of 16-and-a-half and 19 were eligible to apply.
Those who clear the exam are called for interview by the Service Selection Board, and following a medical exam, candidates are recruited in the army, navy, and air force wings of the academy, which was commissioned in 1955.
Each course at the academy has 370 vacancies for the three services. Of these, 208 cadets get commissioned in the army, 120 in the air force and 42 in the navy.
In the exam conducted in November 2021, women candidates comprised 178,000 of 570,000 applicants, and 1,002 women cleared the written exam. The Union Public Service Commission came out with a press note in December 2021, declaring 19 women candidates as successful.
The headcount of women in the military has increased almost threefold over the past six years, with more avenues being opened to them at a steady pace. As of February 2021, 118 women were serving in the armed forces.
The Supreme Court, in February 2020, ruled that short service commission women officers were entitled to permanent commission in the army and navy, and that they have to be considered irrespective of their service length. This judgment led to 506 women officers being granted permanent commission.