Women Army Officers Move Supreme Court Over Permanent Commission

Women army officers moved the Supreme Court of India on Tuesday, November 24, to challenge the defence establishment’s announcement deeming 422 out of the screened 615 army women “fit” for a permanent commission (PC). Dismissing the announcement as “more optics than substance”, the petitioning women officers said that less than 50 percent of the female officers have been granted PC.

Female Army Officers Debunk Permanent Commission Announcement

Represented by Advocates Chitrangda Rastravara and Archana Pathak Dave, the female officers’ application, cited by The Hindu, read, “The exercise for grant of PC has been carried out more in optics, than in substance, rendering itself to be yet another instance of lip-service, adding to the long unfortunate chain of symbolic and pyrrhic victories.” The application also mentioned that the defence establishment had denied PC to “meritorious and outstanding women” on the basis of “unknown, undisclosed, and surreptitious parameters” that deviated from those applicable for male officers.

Also Read: Army Evaluation Process To Grant Permanent Commission Discriminatory: Women Officers Tell SC

Deeming the 422 figure as “highly fallacious and misleading”, the women army officers said that the establishment had calculated the same by including women officers who have been found fit but have not opted for PC, belong to temporary low medical categories, and whose results have been withheld. Consequently, as per the women officers, the real number of women officers granted PC would be 277 – less than 50 percent of the total number of women officers spread across 31 batches.

What You Should Know: 

• Female army officers moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday, November 24, to challenge the defence establishment’s announcement regarding permanent commission (PC).
• Dismissing the announcement as “more optics than substance”, the petitioning women officers said that less than 50 percent of the female officers have been granted PC.
• They also said that the Indian Army had denied PC to “meritorious and outstanding women” on the basis of “unknown, undisclosed, and surreptitious parameters” that deviated from those applicable for male officers.

Also Read: Women Army Officers: We Didn’t Fight For A Job, We Fought To Serve

Permanent Commission For Women Officers

Indian Army declared results of the first-ever board held for granting Permanent Commission to Women officers on November 19. This move came after the Supreme Court’s landmark verdict in February earlier this year, allowing all women officers to seek PC. The judgement observed that “ women officers of the Indian Army have brought laurels to the force” and dismissed the notion of women being psychologically inferior as a “sex stereotype.” The Army has also constituted a special screening board to select women officers who will receive the PC. Read more about it here.

Picture Credit: The Week

Tarini Gandhiok is an intern with SheThePeople.TV.