In early February 2020, the Supreme Court had made a mention of ” change in mindsets”, the requirement of which was paramount in respect of service conditions and promotions of women officers in the Indian Army following which the Government had issued orders for permanent commission of women officers in the force. The court had then, it may be recalled, rejected the plea of the Central Government that women had ”limited capacity”. Did the matter get fully resolved though a major paradigm shift both in the ”traditions” and the established norms had taken place. New issues cropped up primarily with regard to evaluation criterion (ACR) set by the Army for granting the permanent commission to Short Service Commission (SSC) officers. Some issues pertaining to medical constraints had come in the way of granting such permanent commission . There are 10 streams in the Army like Army Education Corps, Judge Advocate General, Signals, Army aviation, Army Air Defence, Electronics, Army Service Corps, Mechanical Engineering, Army Ordnance Corps and Intelligence where otherwise the women officers are now shouldering larger roles and are thus fully empowered. However, that being not enough in the “male dominated society” where transparency and non-discriminatory scenario must in the truer sense be found functioning. Any plea taken under medical grounds or related matters, therefore, must not lead to a discriminatory treatment meted out to the women officers or such a feeling nursed by them .
A two judge Bench of the Supreme Court in its latest order having termed the evaluation criteria for granting permanent commission to officers as ”systematic discrimination” has led to creation of enough space for the concerned authorities in the Army to review the structure of evaluation process and provide a relief to the petitioners and all those going to be covered under the court ruling. There were, in fact many petitions filed in the court in this respect which in totality the Bench has looked into hence the order where interpretation of equality in its truer form related to the constitution has been termed as ”not fair”. The court has in its order dwelt at length the entire issue and that ”it is not enough that women were getting opportunities of getting employed in the forces” as the real picture depicts something else .
Among the notable features of the judgment are the directions to the Central Government and the Army to remove the benchmarking the SSC Women officers with the last male officer who had received permanent commission in their corresponding batches. The judgment was going to benefit nearly 150 women officers.The order broadly lays stress on the concept of gender equality and parity irrespective of any conditions in Government jobs which the constitution provides for and for which otherwise efforts are being made . If still in any of the policies impliedly or otherwise, the sway of male dominance is at work, the spirit of such equality gets defeated. Agreed, a sort of neglect for years together which Indian women have been subjected to, cannot be undone overnight but steps with a vision and strategy could be taken especially in areas which clamour for it like in the matter under reference.
The directions given by the apex court in early 2020 are thus going to be fully implemented ,viz granting of permanent commission to women officers , time scale promotions and consequential benefits too. Equality needs to be fully demonstrated on the ground and it should not be symbolic. However, the laid down principles of availability of vacancies, subject to willingness, suitability, performance, medical fitness and competitive merit of the aspirants in the armed forces have all to be followed. The fact of the matter is that women officers are not allowed to take part in combat operations and cannot therefore, normally serve in infantry, armoured corps, artillery and the like . The latest order of the apex court , however, is of much importance where the crux is there should be no more ”hegemony” of a male dominated mind-set.
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