Navy, MoD move Supreme Court against permanent commission for women
Ask apex court to stay HC order, say it ‘severely affects operational structure and administrative exigencies in Navy’
The Navy has said that the HC nullified its policy without any cogent reason or basis and became a “decision-maker for the Indian Navy, which has consistently been avoided by constitutional courts.”
Even as it claimed that women officers in the Indian Navy are not discriminated against, the government has told the Supreme Court that permanent commission for women short service commission (SSC) officers is “something that the law itself bars” and such an order would “annihilate the functional autonomy of the armed forces”.
Challenging the order of the Delhi High Court, which said on September 4 that women officers in the Navy should be offered permanent commission after they complete their short service stints, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Chief of Naval Staff have said that it violates the principle of “separation of powers” between different wings. The petition urges the Supreme Court to stay the HC order, saying it “severely affects the operational structure and administrative exigencies in the Indian Navy.”
Contending that “men and women are identified by the same yardsticks”, the appeal states that operation of the HC verdict would “result in disturbing the seniority of existing personnel and their promotional avenues”.
“It would further cause financial and other constraints on the government and has resulted in the respondents (women officers) being provided with something that the law itself bars… the division bench (of HC) has effectively overridden the statutory provision and dictated the policy of the Indian Navy for recruiting women officers,” it adds.
The Navy has maintained that it has not discriminated against women, and that no male officer in the same cadres, who were recruited under the SSC, was offered permanent commission.
The Navy has said that the HC nullified its policy without any cogent reason or basis and became a “decision-maker for the Indian Navy, which has consistently been avoided by constitutional courts.”
It has opposed the HC’s observation that since all the three services — Army, Navy and Air Force — are under the same ministry, they should not have different policies. “There are wide variations between the functions of all three services and each service is given the liberty to choose the policies conducive to meet service-specific standards,” says the petition.
Reacting to the development, women officers said it was a “betrayal” by the government. They said Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had promised them that he would dissuade the Navy from filing an appeal.
“The Navy’s decision to appeal against the reinstatement of lady officers proves what the HC had stated… that the Indian government is proud to showcase women power but in reality, the picture is entirely different,” the officers told The Indian Express.
In its order last month, the HC had said that “sexist bias” appears to have “blocked the progress of women”. It had allowed a clutch of pleas filed by 19 women officers in the education, logistics and ATC branches of the Navy, who had completed the 14 years of their SSC.
The officers had also challenged a 2008 decision of the Navy to grant permanent commission only to women who joined after that year, and that too only in the education, law and naval architecture branches.
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