In an important decision, the Supreme Court has given a big relief to the women officers of the army. While giving its verdict on the petition of women officers of Short Service Commission, the Supreme Court has accepted that a biased attitude was adopted in giving them permanent commission.
The court has upheld the women officers selected by the Selection Board for permanent commission in 2019, 2020 and 2021. It has also been said that due to prejudiced attitude, many women could not get permanent commission, therefore, pension benefits should be given to all those officers whose names were considered by the Board in 2019, 20 and 21 considering 20 years of service.
The Supreme Court said, ‘The selection process should be kept more transparent in future. The limit of giving permanent commission to only 250 women every year is not right. This limit should be exceeded under special circumstances. The decision to grant permanent commission should be based on merit and not on the basis of such limits. This order has come on separate petitions of women officers of the Army, Air Force and Navy.
Permanent Commission in the Armed Forces is a career path that allows an officer to serve till the age of retirement. Some military women officers had filed a petition in the Permanent Commission alleging discrimination against women. Women were recruited into the army through Short Service Commission. After being recruited through this, she worked in the army for 14 years, after which she was retired. There is also a rule in the army to complete 20 years of service to get pension. In such a situation, they would face a crisis of livelihood. Apart from this, they did not get many other facilities. Only men could apply for permanent commission.
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