The Supreme Court asked the Centre on Wednesday to apprise it of the exact percentage of casualties suffered by the Infantry in the last three wars India fought. The top court was hearing a challenge to the Army’s 2009 promotion policy, which gave preference to those posted in the Combat wings of Infantry and Artillery over officers of other divisions. A bench of Justices T S Thakur and Kurian Joseph framed a set of four questions for the Centre. It asked if the officers posted in other divisions, who had approached the court, were anytime given the option to join the Infantry. The court also asked for a categorical statement on whether this option was at all available to officers of other wings. The court also asked the government’s counsel to file a note, stating the government’s stand and policy with regard to batch parity and seniority of officers. A group of officers posted in other wings, like Signals and Engineering Services, have opposed the ‘Command Exit’ policy saying that the promotion should be done on pro-rate basis, passing the benefit across the board as “each wing supported the other”.
