'Can't deny women the right': Supreme Court rejects Centre's plea to defer NDA exams for women

'To deal with emergencies is a part of their training. We are sure that they will be able to come at par with this emergency too,' the bench said

The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it cannot dash the hope and aspirations of women candidates to join defence services through the NDA by delaying it for one year.

The top court rejected a plea by the Centre to defer the first National Defence Academy (NDA) exam for women candidates. It directed that women should be allowed to sit for the upcoming examinations on November 14, this year.

"This won't send the right signal to women after having given them the aspiration. Let's begin from this year," a bench presided over by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said.

"We cannot delay things by a year. We gave hope to the girls. We cannot deny them that hope now," the bench added.

The court pointed out postponing the process of allowing women to write the NDA exam to May, 2022 will delay their induction to 2023.

The Centre led by Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati asked the court to allow women candidates to appear in the examinations next year.

It also said certain infrastructural and curriculum changes were required to allow the induction of women.

The bench, however, said, "Interim orders have already been passed. The armed forces are best suited to deal with emergencies. We don't think they will not be capable to accommodating the candidates who take up exam this year."

"What answer we have for the students who are on the anvil of taking the exam. Don't ask us to vacate the order. You go on with the exercise, let us see how many women get into it," the bench told Bhati.

On August 18, the court had passed an interim order allowing women to take up the NDA examination.

The law officer said the forces would be in a tight situation.

"The armed forces of the country have been in far greater situations than a tight situation such as this," the bench shot back.

The court put the matter for consideration in January, 2022.

The Union government has earlier told the court it proposed to put in place all necessary mechanism and infrastructure by May, next year to allow entry of women in three defence services in the existing streams through the prestigious NDA.

In an affidavit, the Defence Ministry said: "A study group has been constituted by the defence services, comprising of experts to expeditiously formulate the comprehensive curriculum for women cadets at NDA and a Board of Officers has been convened to give a holistic and futuristic proposal for training of women cadets at NDA incorporating all relevant aspects".

While the education curriculum is well set, all the rest of aspects of the training are required to be formulated separately for women candidates, it added.

A PIL was filed by advocate Kush Kalra, seeking direction to the NDA to open its doors for women aspiring to join the Armed Forces.

The exams for the NDA are held twice in a year.

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