The Government’s decision to block permanent commission to Navy women officers on short service commission recruited before July 26, 2008 suffered a jolt in the Supreme Court on Friday. The court found no justification in the Centre’s cut-off date and allowed them to continue as Short Service Commission officers even as it said it will decide on their permanent commission issue at a later date.
By a notification issued on July 26, 2008, the Government opened the doors for SSC officers to get permanent commission in three branches Judge Advocate General (JAG), Education and Naval Architect of the Navy. However, this would apply only to such male and women officers recruited after this date.
This notification was dumped by the Delhi High Court which ordered 17 women SSC officers, some of whom who retired, to be re-inducted and given permanent commission. Challenging this order of September 4, 2015, the Centre through Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi vehemently argued that the High Court had no jurisdiction to entertain the petition of the lady officers as the correct forum was the Armed Forces Tribunal. He further submitted that if the HC was of the view that the said cutoff fixed by the notification was not proper, the same could be quashed, and not applied retrospectively. This impacted nearly 2000 SSC officers, Rohatgi said.
The bench of justices TS Thakur and V Gopala Gowda observed, “Nobody forced you to bring the notification in 2008. Anybody recruited on 27 July gets permanent commission but same will not apply to a person who is appointed on July 25. This is not a good classification.”
Senior advocate Rekha Palli, who was appearing for the lady officers, pointed out that the notification has been applied retrospectively by the apex court for lady officers in Army and Air Force. A-G pointed out that women cannot be sent in submarines and navy warships. Moreover, in the case of Army he indicated that the Court dealt with the case on gender parity but here the rule applied equally to men and women SSC officers in the Navy.
The bench was informed that almost 12 out of the 17 were serving as on the date when the notification was introduced. Taking this as the basis, the bench allowed those petitioners to continue as SSC officers on same terms and conditions who were serving as on July 26, 2008. Further, those who retired after this date were also directed to join back as SSC officers. On the two questions - whether they deserve to be given permanent commission and whether those who retired prior to the notification can succeed, will be dealt by the bench at a later stage.