Women are allowed to sit for the National Defence Academy entrance examination scheduled for September 5, according to an interim ruling handed down by the Supreme Court Wednesday. It criticized the Indian Army for its discriminatory policies and questioned why co-education was a problem.
The order was passed by Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy, who were hearing public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the Centre’s policy of excluding female candidates from the NDA and Naval Academy Examination. The apex court clarified that the results of the examination will be subject to the final decision in the petition. Moreover, it ordered the UPSC to issue a corrigendum notification and ‘give due publicity so that the intent of the order is translated into action’.
As a response to the contention made by Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, the bench stated that of the three modes of entry into the army, women could only enter through the Indian Military Academy (IMA) and Officers’ Training Academy (OTA). ‘It’s ultimately a matter of national security’, she said.
The senior advocate for the petitioner, Chinmoy Pradip Sharma, also noted that the Union government had filed a counter-affidavit in which it stated that the ban on women from the exam was ‘a policy decision not subject to court interference and the fact that girls cannot enter NDA does not mean that they cannot advance in their careers’.
The bench reproached the Army for not changing its ‘mindset’ even during the permanent commission judgment. Kaul noted that the Army ‘does not believe in doing anything voluntarily’ unless judicial intervention is sought. It was in reference to a recent ruling by Justice Chandrachud in which the government was directed to ensure that women short service officers are given permanent commissions in the Army, including command postings.
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‘You must start with some tokenism. Don’t force judicial intervention all the time! The truth is that as an institution, we may not understand all the intricate, technical aspects of your structure. The broad principle of gender neutrality is that you must understand and adapt to the backdrop of your peculiarities. Passing blanket orders does not advance the cause’, Justice Kaul stated.
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