The Supreme Court on Friday gave one last opportunity to the Centre to resolve the issue of grant of permanent commission (PC) to 72 women short service commission officers (WSSCO) in the army. The top court said the grant of PC should be with regard to its order of March 25 and, thereafter, it will close the contempt case filed by the women officers.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and BV Nagarathna told additional solicitor general Sanjay Jain and senior advocate R Balasubramanian to personally look into the issue as its order was clear that if the women officers have got 60 per cent marks and they clear medical fitness tests and got clearances of vigilance and disciplinary, they need to be considered. Jain at the outset said they have filed an affidavit in this regard which shows that their conduct was considered by the special selection board after which they were not found fit.
The bench said, “We have also said that permanent commission will be granted subject to vigilance and disciplinary clearances. We will not compromise if there are no clearances. After all, we are dealing with the Indian Army. We also know the importance of vigilance clearances. We are also soldiers of this country.” Jain proposed that they should be given some time to file additional affidavits and the court can pursue the letter for denial of the permanent commission on the next date of hearing of all the 72 officers.
The bench asked whether these 72 officers have got 60 marks or not. Jain pointed out that all of them have got 60 per cent marks, but they were found unfit by the special board itself and medical and vigilance would have followed after that. “No, we will not go into it. You yourself look into the issue and try to resolve the issues. If they have got 60 per cent marks and medical and vigilance would have come at a later stage, then on what basis a decision was taken. You both (Jain and Balasubramanian) look into it. We are posting the matter for October 22,” the bench said.
On October 1, the top court had restrained the army from discharging the 72 WSSCOs, who were not considered for PC, till further orders and had sought a reply within a week on why they were not considered for the service. The women officers have alleged that the top court’s March 25 ruling was not considered by the army and all 72 of them were rejected from consideration for the PC at one go.
In its March 25 verdict, the army was directed by the top court to consider granting PC to the WSSCOs subject to their obtaining 60 per cent marks in the assessment subjects, being found fit on medical criteria as per the August 1, 2020 order of the army and having received disciplinary and vigilance clearances. On March 25, the top court had said the evaluation criteria set by the army for granting permanent commission to women SSC officers constituted systemic discrimination which has caused economic and psychological harm and an affront to their dignity.
The apex court said the administrative requirement imposed by the army while considering the case of WSSCOs for PC, of benchmarking them with the officers lowest in merit in the corresponding male batch, is “arbitrary and irrational”. It had said this administrative requirement shall not be enforced while implementing the last year’s verdict of the top court which had directed that women officers in the army be granted PC.
It had directed that all women officers, who have fulfilled the cut-off grade of 60 per cent in the Special No 5 Selection Board held in September last year, shall be entitled to grant of PC subject to their meeting medical criteria prescribed by the general instructions dated August 1, 2020, and receiving disciplinary and vigilance clearance.
It had said medical criteria stipulated in the general instructions shall be applied at the following points of time — at the time of the fifth year of service or at the time of the tenth year of service, as the case may be. In case the officer has failed to meet the medical criterion for the grant of PC at any of these points in time, the WSSCO will not be entitled to the grant of PC, it had said.
The top court had clarified that a WSSCO, who was in the temporary low medical category (TLMC) in the fifth or tenth year of service and subsequently met the SHAPE-1 criterion after the one-year period of stabilisation, would also be eligible for grant of PC. On February 17 last year, in a landmark verdict, the top court had directed that women officers in the army be granted a permanent commission, rejecting the Centre’s stand of their physiological limitations as being based on “sex stereotypes” and “gender discrimination against women”.
The apex court had directed that within three months, all serving SSC women officers have to be considered for PCs irrespective of them having crossed 14 years or, as the case may be, 20 years of service.
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