Posts of women officers should match entitlement: Supreme Court

The army’s status report indicated that 20 women officers who were earlier given upgraded units have been issued regular units

The Supreme Court on Friday said that the empaneled women officers should get command posts matching their entitlement but refused to direct the Indian Army to give them a fixed tenure of nearly two years at these posts citing the operational requirement of the armed forces.

A status report submitted by the Indian Army denied the charge and said that three of the applicants were given regular command posts while the fourth will be assigned one from May 1 (Hindustan Times)

A bench headed by chief justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud passed the order while hearing an application moved by four women Colonels who alleged discrimination on the grounds that the Indian Army allocated regular billets (or major units) to male officers while allowing women officers to command upgraded billets usually headed by junior officers.

A status report submitted by the Indian Army denied the charge and said that three of the applicants were given regular command posts while the fourth will be assigned one from May 1. The bench, also comprising justice JB Pardiwala, said, “They (Army) will not put you into a billet lower than your entitlement after our order.”

The women officers led by senior advocate V Mohana said that all of the 225 male officers empaneled have got regular posts, while only 32 of the 108 women empaneled officers have been given regular posts commensurate with their rank.

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The army’s status report indicated that 20 women officers who were earlier given upgraded units have been issued regular units. Seven women officers have requested to continue at their present command assignments while two have superannuated. Senior advocate R Balasubramanian, appearing for the Indian Army, told the court that the remaining women officers will be gradually accommodated as each command has a minimum tenure of 22 months and command planning takes into account several factors.

Some of the women officers urged the court for a direction to consider keeping them on the command posts for the minimum tenure of 22 months. But the bench was not keen to grant this request. “We cannot pass such an order as there are certain matters which can affect operational requirements of the Indian Army,” it said.

The court has been monitoring several aspects of service conditions and promotion of women officers in the Indian Army since by a judicial order in 2020 the top court directed the army to consider women officers at par with their male counterparts for permanent commission, and by a subsequent order of March 2021 quashed the yardsticks adopted by the army to deny women permanent commission.