After army, navy women get a shot at equality thanks to Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: To deprive serving women officers of the opportunity to work as equals with men on a permanent commission (PC) in the Indian Navy is plain discriminatory, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, saying serving short service commissioned (SSC) women officers in the navy were entitled to PC.

A bench of justices DY Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta followed up its February 17 decision in a similar case relating to the Indian Army, in which the top court had struck a blow for gender parity by holding that SSC women officers in service in the army were entitled to PC.

“To contend that women officers are ill-suited to certain avocations which involve them being aboard ships is contrary to the equal worth of the women officers who dedicate their lives to serving in the cause of the nation,” the court held on Tuesday, brushing aside the argument by the central government that sailing in the Indian Navy was not a proper career for women.

The court struck down a restrictive stipulation imposed by the central government in 2008 as per which PC for SSC women officers were to be granted only prospectively from January 2009, thereby denying the benefit of PC to women officers who were already in the service.

“The stipulation in the policy letter dated 26 September 2008 making it prospective and restricting its application to specified cadres/branches of the

Indian Navy shall not be enforced,” the court said in its verdict.

The decision was delivered on two appeals, one filed by the Union government against a 2015 judgment of the Delhi high court which had ordered the grant of PC to serving women officers and another from a 2016 decision of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) which had asked the Centre to consider the claims of the women officers for PC.

A permanent commission entitles an officer to serve in the navy till he/she retires unlike short service commission (SSC), which is currently for 10 years and can be extended by four more years, or a total of 14 years.

The restriction can be traced to section 9 of the Navy Act as per which women are not eligible to join the navy unless the central government lifts such restrictions.

The provision, however, conferred on the Union government the power to stipulate the departments, branches or bodies of the navy in which women can be appointed or enrolled.

The central government, in exercise of those powers under section 9, had issued two notifications, one in 1991 and another in 1998, lifting the restrictions on allowing women in the navy and had permitted their employment in stipulated branches.

On February 25, 1999, the Union government took the decision for the grant of PCS to both men and women officers in the navy.

However, the ministry of defence issued a policy letter on

September 26, 2008, granting PC to SSC women officers in all the three branches of the armed forces. But this was restricted to certain categories and was to operate prospectively for the benefit of future batches inducted on SSC after January 2009.

Seventeen women officers who joined the Indian Navy as SSC officers in the logistics and air traffic controller cadres and the education branch challenged this 2008 policy.

Their grievance was that despite completing 14 years of service as SSC officers, they had not been considered for the grant of PC and were discharged from service.

The high court had held that exclusion of serving women officers from permanent commission was irrational and arbitrary.

“Serving women officers in Logistics and ATC (Air Traffic Control) Branches are also equally entitled for grant of permanent commission,” the high court had ruled, directing the navy to grant PC to serving women officers.

The AFT, in a similar case had also come to the conclusion that serving women officers should be allowed PC.

However, the AFT, while directing the consideration of the claim of SSC women officers to the grant of PCS by the Indian Navy, stopped short of the direction which was issued by the Delhi high court. Appeals were filed before the Supreme Court against the Delhi high court and AFT verdicts.

The central government took a stance before the Supreme Court that sea-going duties are illsuited to women officers.

This was turned down by the top court on the grounds that it is premised on sex stereotypes that male officers are more suited for certain duties by virtue of the physiological characteristics.

In this regard, the court referred to its own judgment in the Babita Puniya case delivered on February 17 in which the apex court had held that arguments founded on the physical strengths and weaknesses of men and women to deny PC to SSC women officers in the Indian Army do not constitute a constitutionally valid basis for denying equal opportunity to women officers.

It, therefore, quashed the decision of the central government to restrict PC to prospective recruitments and held that all SSC officers in the education, law and logistics cadres who are presently in service shall be considered for the grant of PC.

“To accept the contention urged by the ASG (additional solicitor general, who represented the central government) would be to approve the socially ascribed gender roles which a commitment to equal worth and dignity of every individual belies,” the court held.

THE CENTRE HAD TAKEN A STANCE IN THE TOP COURT THAT SEA-GOING DUTIES WERE ILL-SUITED TO WOMEN OFFICERS