Today, the Supreme Court criticized the Indian Army's arbitrary approach to promoting women officers granted permanent commission as per prior court judgments.
The Court noted that the Army's norms have failed to deliver justice to women officers who have fought hard for their rightful entitlements, in contrast to their male counterparts.
The bench, including CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra, heard applications from women army officers seeking the enforcement of the court's ruling in Lt. Col. Nitisha v. Union of India. In that case from March 2021, a bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud recognized that the criteria for granting permanent commission to women officers, though seemingly unbiased, had an indirect discriminatory impact.
The concerns were raised by women officers in the Indian Army who had already received permanent commissions following the Nitisha decision. The issue revolved around their exclusion from consideration for promotion to the rank of Colonel. According to the empanelment policy, Confidential Reports (CRs) held significant weight in the promotion process, accounting for 89 out of 100 marks, giving them priority over other factors.
The dispute centered around how the Confidential Reports (CRs) of women officers were evaluated for promotions. It was decided that the CR dates for women army officers should align with those of the corresponding male batches. The concern raised by women officers was that this directive had led to the incomplete consideration of CRs for women officers from the 1992 batch up to 2005.
The women officers, represented by Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi and Senior Advocate V Mohana, argued that, in line with the Nitisha decision, the entire profile of women officers should be considered. However, a substantial portion of their CRs was excluded to create an appearance of parity with male officers. In contrast, the Defense Ministry, represented by Attorney General Venkatramani and Senior Advocate Col R Balasubramanium, clarified that there was a difference in the process used by Special Selection Board (SSB) 3, which granted Permanent Commission to women. SSB 3 only conducted a single assessment of the candidate, as opposed to the three assessments offered by other SSBs. Typically, these three assessments occurred over three years. However, for women officers, the three assessments took place simultaneously in January 2023 to ensure faster promotion for those who had received Permanent Commission. The Ministry also stated that the profiles of women officers were not compared to their male counterparts but to their female batchmates.
The court determined that the same cut-off criteria were applied to the batches of women officers assessed in SSB 3 as those used for corresponding male officers. The bench observed that—
The court opined that the application of the cut-off for evaluating women officers' CRs for colonel empanelment is arbitrary. This approach contradicts the principles established in Nitisha and deviates from the Indian Army's policy framework. The policy clearly stipulates that all CRs after nine years of service must be considered. Furthermore, after the introduction of the quantitative assessment system, it was clarified that CRs for all Special Selection Boards (SSBs) should align with the prevailing policy at the time.
Recognizing the significance of Confidential Reports (CRs), the court observed that in this instance, the cut-off was arbitrarily employed to create parity between women officers and their male counterparts. The bench expressed that—
The approach has been oriented toward undermining the legitimate rights of women officers, which is a disservice to their hard-fought battle for just entitlements. The way in which applicants have been denied empanelment is arbitrary and runs counter to the Nitisha judgment and the framework established by the army authorities.
Consequently, the court has ordered a fresh SSB 3 to be convened within a fortnight. Furthermore, the court added—
Officers who have already been promoted to the rank of colonel will not face any disturbance or impact on their seniority.
TAGS: Reconvening SSB 3 Fresh exercise Women officers' promotion Seniority protection
