After the Supreme Court threatened contempt proceedings, the Indian Army notified the Supreme Court on Friday that it was ready to issue Permanent Commission to 11 women officers in accordance with prior rulings. The order came after a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna warned that the Indian Army and its Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane would face contempt charges if PC was not granted to women officers. The highest court was considering a contempt suit filed by 11 officers accusing the Army of disobeying the court’s orders.
The Army notified a panel of Justices D Y Chandrachud and A S Bopanna that it will issue PC to all qualified women officers following the top court’s admonition. The bench asked Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain and senior advocate R Balasubramanian, who were representing the Army, if the 11 officers who were left out (except for three on medical grounds) had met the 60 percent marks criteria and if they had disciplinary and vigilance clearance or not, as per the court’s criteria laid out on March 25, this year.
According to Jain, the 11 officers received above 60% grades and had all disciplinary and vigilance clearances, but they received negative comments and their statutory and non-statutory complaints are still pending.
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The bench then began dictating the ruling, but was halted by Jain, who stated that they had just got word from the Army that it is willing to issue the PC to 11 officers who are currently in front of the court. The lawyers for army soldiers who were refused a promotion opposed to the statement, claiming that even officers who had not filed a contempt suit against the Army and Naravane should be considered.
According to Jain, these are contempt petitions, and only officers who are currently in court would be considered. Senior counsel Huzefa Ahmadi, who is representing some of the officers, said that the Army’s use of a technical reason to reject the PC is humiliating to the officers whose performances were recognised by the highest court in its ruling. Because Jain and senior counsel R Balasubramanian, who is representing the Army, need to get instructions from the relevant authorities, Jain requested the court to grant them till 2 p.m. to do so and not to impose an injunction until then. The request was granted, and Jain and Balasubramanian were given permission to seek instructions.
The Army must give orders granting Permanent Commission to 11 officers who appear before the court within 10 days and those who do not appear before the court within three weeks, according to the bench. “We applaud the army’s fair stance in resolving all remaining concerns connected to female SSC officers,” the SC remarked later. According to the Supreme Court’s directive, 68 of the 71 WSSCOs who were previously denied permanent commission would now be awarded it. Initially, 72 cops were refused the PC, but one officer later decided to resign. Three cops were determined to be medically unfit for duty.
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While considering the cases of the other officers, Jain stated that the Army will tackle the problem with a “open mind and heart” and will deal with all of the officers’ situations. On October 8, the Supreme Court ordered the Centre to provide orders awarding PC to 39 such officers within seven working days and to provide the names and reasons for the other 25 officers.
On October 1, the Army was ordered not to discharge the 72 WSSCOs who were not considered for PC until additional instructions were issued, and the highest court demanded a response within a week as to why they were not considered for the service. The women officers claim that the Army failed to consider the Supreme Court’s March 25 order, and that all 72 of them were denied from consideration for the PC at the same time.
