Delhi High Court rules Agnipath scheme is valid Constitutionally

The High Court had on December 15 last year reserved judgment on the batch of pleas challenging the Constitutional validity of the scheme.

On Monday, it dismissed the pleas while observing that it is not concerned with whether a more “comprehensive decision could have been taken by the Government, as this Court must show deference to the decision reached by experts”.

Referring to a Supreme Court decision, the High Court said, “It goes without saying that the present issue, i.e., the recruitment of soldiers in the Armed Forces, most definitely qualifies as one falling under the ambit of national security…Policy decisions with regard to national security are taken after careful consideration of the socio-political scenario of the country, along with the socio-political scenario of the border countries. The Courts cannot and should not delve into the appropriateness of such policy decisions and, thus, endanger one of the most important aspects of the basic structure doctrine, i.e., the principle of separation of powers.”

The High Court also observed that expert opinions have been sought on the scheme and considering the “laudable objective of maintaining national security” at its heart, “this Court does not find it arbitrary, capricious or devoid of reason”.

The High Court was of the view that instead of focusing on the “alleged political motives” of the scheme, “it is necessary to focus on the benefits that are being provided by the said Scheme”.

The High Court said that its advantages — employment, skill certificates, 25% of selected candidates to be appointed in the regular Army — cannot be overlooked and dislodged on an apprehension that after four years such individuals may be unemployed. It observed that interference is not called for only on the basis of apprehensions and bald averments.

“Upon considering the opinions of experts bodies, defence personnel, and carefully studying the models adopted by other nations, it was decided to finally replace the prior mode of recruitment with the recruitment envisaged by the Agnipath Scheme. Considering that the stated objective of the Government is neither discriminatory nor mala fide, or arbitrary, this Court finds no reason to interfere with it,” the High Court said.

With respect to the grievances of petitioners that the scheme took away their rights, as they had participated in the previous recruitment process and many had been shortlisted but not appointed due to the new scheme, the High Court observed that the petitioners had “no vested right to seek such recruitment”.

Dismissing the pleas, the High Court said, “We have extensively gone through the Agnipath Scheme, and can conclusively state that this Scheme was made in national interest, to ensure that the Armed Forces are better equipped. Due to this, this Court finds that the Petitioners have no vested right to claim that the recruitment under the 2019 Notification and CEE Examination needs to be completed. Furthermore, both promissory estoppel and legitimate expectation cannot be applied in the instant case to force the Government to complete the recruitment keeping in mind larger public interest.”

Under the Agnipath scheme, which was rolled out in June 2022, around 45,000-50,000 soldiers between the ages of 17.5 and 21 years will be recruited to the armed forces annually. Most of them will leave the service in four years and only 25 per cent will be allowed to continue for another 15 years. The Government’s reason for the move is to make permanent force levels much leaner for the over 13-lakh strong armed forces in the country.