A group of NCC cadets who cleared the physical and medical tests for the Indian Army last year approached the Kerala High Court on Monday against the Centre’s new defence recruitment scheme Agnipath and sought proper placement in the army.
The 23 petitioners in their plea said that they had appeared for the test in 2020 as per the notification issued by the army and in February 2021 their physical and medical tests were conducted by the commanding officer (recruitment) south Kerala region. They said they were waiting for the common entrance examination, the final criteria, to join the army. They also said all of them were NCC (National Cadet Corps) cadets and hold NCC “C” certificates.
They said in their plea that usually “C” certificate holders of the NCC get due weightage in examinations and they spent two years undergoing formalities and it was unfair to go through the procedure yet again. “Petitioners are patriotic youngsters since childhood and participated in many camps conducted by the NCC. They are eligible candidates and denial of opportunities to achieve their life goal amounts to miscarriage of justice,” the plea read.
They said the denial of opportunity at this juncture was arbitrary and discriminative and sought the court’s intervention to ensure proper placement for them. The plea was filed by Abymon Varghese, a resident of Kottayam and others, through their counsel B A Aloor. Though the court admitted their plea it said it has to check with the Supreme Court since many such pleas were pending with the apex court.
{{/usCountry}}They said the denial of opportunity at this juncture was arbitrary and discriminative and sought the court’s intervention to ensure proper placement for them. The plea was filed by Abymon Varghese, a resident of Kottayam and others, through their counsel B A Aloor. Though the court admitted their plea it said it has to check with the Supreme Court since many such pleas were pending with the apex court.
{{/usCountry}}Many parts of the country had witnessed violent protests after the government introduced a new recruitment programme called Agnipath on June 14 for soldiers in the three defence services below the rank of commissioned officers. Despite protests, later all three forces (Army, Navy and Air Force) notified the scheme and invited applications for Agniveers. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday agreed to take up a bunch of pleas questioning the new recruitment scheme next week.