After the Supreme Court held the Indian Army guilty of contempt on Friday and was about to initiate contempt proceedings against the Army and its chief General MN Naravane, the Defence forces agreed to grant Permanent Commission (PC) to all of its eligible women officers, 72 in total.
“We are holding Army guilty of contempt of court. We are putting you on guard. Since you have not complied with our orders, you will have to face the consequences. The Army may be supreme in its own authority but this Constitution court is also supreme in its own jurisdiction,” the apex court said.
The Army invited the SC’s ire when it said out of the 36 Women Short Service Commission Officers (WSSCO) in the force, who have filed the contempt petition, it has granted PC to 22 officers while 14 were not considered fit including three on medical ground.
After the top court’s warning, the Army informed a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna that it will grant PC to all the eligible women officers.
The bench asked Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain and senior advocate R Balasubramanian, appearing for the Army, whether the 11 officers who were left out (except for three on medical ground) had met the 60 per cent marks criteria and whether they have disciplinary and vigilance clearance or not as per the courts criteria laid on March 25, this year.
Jain said 11 officers have got over 60 per cent marks and they had all the disciplinary and vigilance clearances, but they had adverse remarks and their statutory and non-statutory complaints are pending.
“If they have met all the criteria set out in our judgement then why have you not granted them the PC? We have said in our earlier orders that out of 72 WSSCO officers, who have approached the court or not, shall be granted the PC subject to the meeting of the criteria,” the bench said.
The bench then started dictating the order but was interrupted by Jain that they have just received instruction that the Army is willing to grant the PC to 11 officers who are before the court.
The counsels for Army officers who have been denied the PC objected to the statement and said even those officers who have not filed the contempt petition against the Army and Naravane should be considered.
Jain said these are contempt petitions and only such officers will be considered who are before the court.
Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for some officers, said it is humiliation of the Army officers whose achievements have been lauded by the top court in its verdict and the Army’s taking a technical ground to deny the PC does not suit it.
Jain urged the bench that since he and Balasubramanian need to seek instruction from the concerned authorities, the court may give them some time till 2 pm and till then it should not dictate the order. The bench agreed to the request and allowed Jain and Balasubramanian to seek instructions.
In the post-lunch session Jain said they have got instructions that Army is willing to grant the permanent commission to all the WSSCOs irrespective of the fact that they are before the court or not but meeting the criteria set out by the court in its March 25 order.
Jain said, “Army authorities think that this matter be put at rest today itself and they do not want any more litigation in this regard.”
The bench asked the Army to issue orders for grant of Permanent Commission to 11 officers who are before the court within 10 days and those who are not before the court within three weeks.
On February 17 last year, in a landmark verdict, the top court had directed that women officers in the Army be granted a permanent commission, rejecting the Centre’s stand of their physiological limitations as being based on “sex stereotypes” and “gender discrimination against women”.
The apex court had directed that within three months, all serving SSC women officers have to be considered for PCs irrespective of them having crossed 14 years or, as the case may be, 20 years of service.