The Army’s defence for grouping regiments on caste, region and religious lines to meet operational requirement has come under fire in Supreme Court. The PIl petitioner who raised questions against such classification has told the court that such a move was unconstitutional and amounts to discrimination on basis of caste, region and religion.
In an affidavit filed before the court, petitioner IS Yadav, a doctor from Rewari in Haryana, said that the assertion by the Army that such grouping was necessary for administrative convenience and operational requirements had no constitutional basis. He pleaded that the same should be dismantled since the Navy and Air Force did not practice such discrimination.
“The Indian Army should be composed of all those Indian citizens who are fit and ready to undertake the responsibility of military services,” Yadav’s affidavit said, pointing to 22 Regiments where such grouping is in vogue, such as Maratha Regiment, Jat Regiment, Sikh Regiment, etc.
Responding to Yadav’s PIl, the Army had filed an affidavit in apex court suggesting that recruitments are not made on basis of caste, region and religion. However, people coming from a region in a regiment suits “administrative convenience” and “operational requirements”.
“Certain regiments of the Army are organised on lines of classification because social, cultural and linguistic homogeneity has been observed to be a force multiplier as a battle winning factor,” Army said, adding, “The commonality of language and culture only further augments the smooth execution of operation”.
The petitioner argued, “At one instance they (Army) say that recruitment is open to all classes in Indian Army, but that the recruitment is open only to these classified groups and certainly not for every Indian. It is incorrect that every section of Indian society is represented in these classified regiments.” By such grouping, a vast majority of youth are discriminated on caste-cum-region-cum-religion basis, which is a violation of their fundamental rights.
The Army contradicted petitioner’s claim with regard to single castes based regiments claiming that regiments such as Dogra, Garwal Rifles and Madras Regiment were not defined by caste but region.