Govt against HC order on women Navy officers

Granting permanent commission violates Act

The Union government has approached the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court order directing grant of permanent status to women officers selected through short service commission (SSC) in Indian Navy, contending that it would affect operational structure of the armed force.

Maintaining that women officers were not discriminated against, the government said granting permanent commission to the officers after completion of their short service would violate the Navy Act.

The defence ministry sought direction to stay the HC order of September 4, which, it claimed, would affect seniority of existing personnel and their promotion avenues.

“It would further cause financial and other constraints for the government and result in the respondents (women officers) being provided with something that the law itself bars. The HC has effectively overridden the statutory provision and dictated the policy of the Indian Navy for recruiting women officers,” the government said.

The government also contended that no male officer recruited under SSC was offered permanent commission. “Men and women are identified by the same yardstick,” it said, adding contractual liability is applied uniformly.

Refusal

The Centre also rejected the HC’s view that since all the three services - Army, Navy and Air Force - are under the same ministry, they should not have different policies.

“There are wide variations between the functions of all three services and each service is given the liberty to choose the policies conducive to meet service-specific standards,” the petition said.

HC order

The government claimed that the High Court order “attempts to undermine and annihilate the functional autonomy of the Armed forces and exclusivity of the executive domain, particularly those relating to recruitment policy and cadre structure”.