Permanent Commission to Women

Supreme Court in its landmark verdict of Secretary, Ministry of defence V Babita Punia and others 2020, has allowed for the eligibility of women for permanent commission as well as for commanding positions in the Indian Army.  This victory is a culmination of struggle of 16 long years of women who were relieved from their duties despite of their 14 years long service merely because they entered through short services commission gateways.

The judgment was delivered in response to a petition of the defence ministry which brought in question the 2010 judgment of Delhi High Court which decreed that women be granted access to permanent commission, however neither the Army nor the Government had emitted an embracing response or stance on the same, owing to which they challenged the ruling on the grounds of questioning the court’s authority to intervene in policy matters. It is this struggle which had finally ended with this magnificent ruling. In fact to a vast majority, the judgment was seen as a much needed reform catering to gender equality jurisprudence of the Indian Army.

Prior to the Supreme Court ruling, the Central Government in the year 2019 has issued a notification which allowed permanent commission to SSC women officers with up to 14 years of services however, the policy in its current form was held to be violative of Right to equality and so even though court has accepted the 2019 policy but to render it effective it was made to undergo modification which now makes it applicable to across the board and at the same time provides for wider inclusiveness by doing away with its limited scope to staff appointments.

The Court went on to say that even though Article 33 of the Indian Constitution allows some space for restrictions on fundamental rights in armed forces. At the same time these restrictions are applicable only to an extent necessary to ensure proper discharge of duties and responsibilities. The court rejected the submissions of the government since they reflected upon the deeply entrenched gender stereotypes which usually discriminated against women class. Their submissions tool recourse to inherent biological differentiation and socially assigned expectation from genders, to substantiate the grounds for argument so forwarded by them. The court vehemently opposed the government’s stand as being regressive and reprimanded them for belittling women officers’ contribution to the nation’s security by deeming it as an insult to not only their dignity as women but to the dignity of members of Indian Army who serve as equals in a common mission. Two Judge-bench comprising of Justice D.Y Chandrachud and Justice Ajay Rastogi, revised the Indian Army’s conception of equality of opportunity in matters of employment and called for stricter compliance within 3 months to the said judgment. The court have granted the Centre with an extension of one month instead of six in response to its application seeking extension in view of the Covid-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown.

Soon after the Judgment, the Army Chief General Naravane in his official statement had lauded the order of the Apex Court and had stated that it would provide a more clearer sense of clarity with regards to future development.

Scenario Post judgment

Almost more than a year later, the picture is still the same; there have been no promising step by the Indian Army in this regard. The court’s order had not been implemented in its true spirit rather its implementation is sluggish and discriminatory. There is no sign of proper policy or plan in place for women officers instead there is only indefinite extension by the Army in its compliance with the court order. Apart from these endless extensions, the Army has introduced 4 more additional parameters to which women officers will be subjected for them to be eligible for a Permanent commission. Also a separate selection board was constituted in September 2020 for assessing women officers. Some of whom in response to the unyielding assessment moved the Supreme Court for redressal. To which the Apex Court in its decision in 2021 held that, the newly constituted evaluative criterion discriminated and impacted those women seeking permanent commission. Justice D.Y Chandrachud iterated that ‘what may seemingly appear harmless, can incorporate deep roots of evil notions of patriarchy under its veil’. Vey recently the Army had also allowed for a medical criterion through which women officers in the age group of 35-50 years will have to compete with relatively younger male counterparts.

Taking a note of discriminatory standards such as this, the Supreme Court has very expressedly displayed its disappointment over the impediments allowed by the bureaucracy in the way of bright and secure future of women officers seeking permanent commission. The SC in its judgment has very categorically stated that these requirements so established by the Army for assessment of women with men of lowest rank were arbitrary and physical standards should be placed at premium while in the course of selection. Unfortunately in today’s time, despite of advancement in almost all the fronts, women still constitute a very small percentage nearly 4% of the total strength of commissioned officers in Indian Army as compared to the average of 11% in NATO countries and 7% in Japan’s forces. Regardless of almost 11,500 vacancies in Indian Army, it still has not been able to create a comprehensive framework allowing for equality of opportunity in matters of employment which would in turn help in alleviating the apprehension of the serving women officers as well as encourage more and more participation from bright female applicants eager to make their mark in a social set up dominated by regressive male dominating mindset.

Statistical Picture

• As per the evaluation of force around 70% of the women were eligible for permanent commission. However the official data revealed vast gaps owing to which only 45% of the eligible women officers were commissioned. This picture stands in stark contrast to almost 90% of SSC male officers eligible for permanent commission in 2020.
• Data presented in 2018 before the Rajya Sabha by the then minister of state for defence Dr. Subhash Bhamre, reflected a deeply skewed ratio of women to men. As per the data, there was only 1 woman officer in the army for every 26 male counterparts and as according to figures released in 2021, this ratio instead worsens to a great degree making it 1 woman in the army to 178 men if medical and dental personnel are included.
• Reasons attributed to this deeply disappointing scenario could be because of distinct access options available to both the genders to enter the forces. SSC is simply an option among other means for men to join the permanent commission while for women it is the only alternative. In fact as according to RTI, of the total 1572 vacancies for males only 225 vacancies are those filled through SSC. This further indicates that while 100% of the female officers are inducted through SSC only 14.3% of the male officers are subjected to the same restrictions. These differential access routes have inevitably led to the establishment of numerical supremacy of men over women.

Conclusion

Regardless of these struggles, the future is certainly better and bright for the females in the light of these commendable judgments and more recently the Supreme Court’s stand on allowing women to be inducted through NDA and seeking its compliance without any unnecessary delay is yet another step in a journey towards conquering the established and rooted sexism in Indian society and its Institutions. 

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Author: Ishita Nayak (Institute of Law, Nirma University)

Reference Material

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3. Rathore, R. S. (2021, February 27). Women officers: The long road to permanent commission. @businessline. https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/know/gender-barriers-in-the-road-to-permanent-commission-for-women-in-the-armed-forces/article33942023.ece
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6. Pavani, M. (2020, July 19). Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Constitutional Feminism and the Permanent Commission for Women judgment. Bar and Bench – Indian Legal News. https://www.barandbench.com/columns/breaking-the-glass-ceiling-an-analysis-on-the-permanent-commission-of-women
7. Staff, S. (2021, August 2). Implement order on permanent commission to women instead of seeking clarifications, SC tells Centre. Scroll.In. https://scroll.in/latest/1001785/implement-order-on-permanent-commission-to-women-instead-of-seeking-clarifications-sc-tells-centre
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