The Supreme Court on Wednesday expressed surprise that the Indian Navy did not find a single woman officer granted Permanent Commission in 2020 fit for promotion, and directed the Union defence ministry to produce a set of confidential papers that went into denial of promotion to six woman officers who approached the court alleging “systematic discrimination”.
“It cannot be that after our judgment on March 17, 2020, not a single woman has been found eligible for promotion,” a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud said. The court was hearing an application moved by six officers seeking promotion to the rank of Captain.
Attorney general (AG) R Venkataramani, appearing for the Centre, confirmed that out of those granted permanent commission, not a single woman was promoted, prompting the bench, also comprising justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, to say: “We are a little surprised that not a single woman has made it on merit.”
Posting the matter in January, the court directed the Centre and Indian Navy to produce the “approach paper” pertaining to the six officers. This paper is a confidential report prepared about officers being considered for promotion by the Selection Board.
Venkataramani told the court that the Centre had no hesitation in producing the reports as the denial was purely on merit. “You can’t close your eyes to merit. Every selection is preceded by an approach paper. We will produce it and then court will know where they stand.”
{{/usCountry}}Venkataramani told the court that the Centre had no hesitation in producing the reports as the denial was purely on merit. “You can’t close your eyes to merit. Every selection is preceded by an approach paper. We will produce it and then court will know where they stand.”
{{/usCountry}}The AG also sought to separate this matter from similar petitions filed by women officers in the Indian Army seeking parity with male officers for promotion. “This is not a case like the army where there are vacancies. There is a ‘look year’ when each officer can be considered. The first time the petitioner[s] could be considered was in 2018. They was considered with their peers, and not junior officers.”
Senior advocate V Mohana, who appeared for the lady officers, told the court that this was factually incorrect as the women were considered for promotion along with their junior officers. “There is an India General report prepared for each Selection Board which they should produce,” she said, adding that of six applicants she represented, the “look year” was 2016. It was her case that in the three subsequent “look years” -- 2018 , 2019 and 2020 -- no “approach paper” was prepared, amounting to “systematic discrimination”.
For the Navy, senior advocate R Balasubramanian said: “It is true there is not a single woman officer who got permanent commission who has been promoted. Equally, male officers who were higher in merit have not been considered among their peers.” To a request by the petitioners to hold a special Selection Board these officers, the Indian Navy said that the promotion board cannot be constituted unless are certain number of officers are available.
The court told Mohana that any relief that could be granted by the court would be limited, as this was not a writ petition but an application they were hearing in a petition decided in March 2020. “There are limitations on this court to entertain the application. You can consider filing a petition before the Armed forces tribunal (AFT). It is not a case that they have not considered you. Their affidavit states you were considered in 2018, 2019 and 2020,” said the bench. Mohana said she would discuss this with her clients, but urged the court to consider the matter nonetheless.