Center Justice for Women Officers: Supreme Court Orders Special Selection Board to Reconvene for Promotion

The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Army’s practice of denying women officers empanelment as colonels was “arbitrary”, and instructed the authorities to reconvene the special selection board within two weeks for their promotion.

A bench led by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud criticized the attitude of finding ways to deny women officers their rightful entitlements.

“This approach fails to provide justice to the women officers who have fought hard to receive fair entitlements,” the bench, which also included Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said. They also stated that the manner in which the cut-off has been applied for considering the Confidential Reports (CRs) for women officers for empanelment as colonels is arbitrary and contrary to Army policy and court judgments.

The apex court emphasized that the policy framework clearly required all Confidential Reports (CR) after nine years of service to be taken into account, and criticized the arbitrary application of a cut-off to equate women officers with their male counterparts.

The court also dismissed the argument that there were not enough vacancies to accommodate the officers, citing a previous statement by army authorities that 150 vacancies were to be made available, of which 108 have been filled.

In its order, the court directed the reconvening of the special selection board for promotion as colonel within two weeks, and stated that all CRs except the last two should be taken into account. The court also emphasized that the cut-off of June 2021 should be considered.

The petitions were filed by women officers of the Indian Army who have been granted permanent commission, but were not empaneled for promotion to the rank of colonel by selection.

The top court had previously stated that the evaluation criteria set by the Army for granting permanent commission to women Short Service Commission (SSC) officers constituted systemic discrimination, causing economic and psychological harm and an affront to their dignity.

In a historic verdict on February 17, 2020, the top court had directed that women officers in the Army be granted permanent commission, rejecting the Centre’s argument of their “physiological limitations” as being based on “sex stereotypes” and “gender discrimination against women”.

The court had also directed that within three months, all serving SSC women officers had to be considered for permanent commission, regardless of their years of service.

Later, in another major verdict on March 17, 2020, the top court had paved the way for granting permanent commission to women officers in the Indian Navy, stating that a level playing field ensures that women have the opportunity to overcome “histories of discrimination”.