Supreme Court: The army has been urged to get its act together by the Supreme Court, which considers that it has not been fair to its women officers who have alleged delays in granting permanent commission in accordance with its directives in 2020.
Supreme Court says Army not fair to its Women Officers
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha was hearing to a plea of 34 women army officers who have alleged that Junior male officers are being considered over them to perform “combat and commanding roles” in the army.
34 women army officers allege that Junior Male officers were considered for promotion over them
The Supreme Court bench announced on Tuesday that it is passing a peremptory ruling and urged the army to get its house in order. Additionally, it instructed the army to wait to reveal the results of female officers before announcing the results of male officers who are being considered for promotions.
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The bench asked the Centre and the armed forces’ attorneys, Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain and Senior Advocate R Balasubramaniam, regarding why they did not take these women officers into consideration for promotion in October.
Two things had to be done, according to the bench’s posting of the plea for the Tuesday order-passing. First, no male officer shall be posted until the completion of their women (SB III), in accordance with the SB III that were held in October for male officers.
The law officers said that military establishment is committed to the cause of the women officers and the army has sanctioned 150 seats for promotions of the army officers.
In response, Senior Advocate V Mohna, speaking on behalf of the women officers, stated that 1200 junior male officers have been promoted since the Supreme Court’s decision granting women officers permanent commission.
She continued by saying that nine male officers had been promoted even after the previous hearing, and she asked that no promotions take place before women officers receive promotions. She went on to say that while she had no issue with the attorneys representing the Army, but wanted the grievances to be heard against its administration.
Lawyer appearing for Women Army Officers say Army does not have any vacancies for women in combat and command posts
Further she stated that army does not have any vacancies for women in combat command posts.
R Balasubramanian, representing the Centre and Armed Forces, said that no officer has been promoted since the most recent hearing before this court on November 22.
The bench had earlier asked the Center to respond to the 34 female officers’ plea that the promotion process for their male colleagues had already started.
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The 34 women officers who have filed the plea, include Col Priyamvada A Mardikar and Col Asha Kale, who are permanent commission officers.
They have alleged that they were discriminated against by a special selection board convened two months ago , which reportedly considered male officers much junior to them for promotion.
In response, the senior counsel for the Centre stated that a separate selection board will be established for women officers to compete for 150 more positions that the Union Finance Ministry was about to approve.
The senior officer had assured the court that the grievance of the women applicants will be solved.
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