The Supreme Court on Friday restrained the Centre from terminating the services of over 50 women officers in the Indian Army, citing the prevailing hostilities between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack.
“In the prevailing situation, let us not bring their morale down. They are brilliant officers. You can use their services somewhere else. This is not the time that they should be asked to roam around the courts,” a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Kotiswar Singh told additional solicitor-general Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Union government.
The bench was dealing with the appeal filed by short-commissioned women officers, led by Lt Col Geeta Sharma, who fear that they would be “released” (terminated) from service.
The Supreme Court had in the “Babita Puniya Vs Ministry of Defence” case in 2020 ruled as "unconstitutional and discriminatory" the appointment of short-commissioned women officers who could be discharged from service after 14 years unlike their male counterparts, who were allowed to serve the army till 60 years of age.
The apex court had ruled that no such discrimination could be adopted.
Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, who briefed the media on May 7 and 8 about India’s response to the Pahalgam attack, was one of the short-commissioned officers in whose favour the apex court had passed the 2020 judgment.
However, Bhati on Friday told the bench that the Army Board had individually examined the cases of Sharma and other short-commissioned women officers and found them “not fit” to discharge their duties.
Bhati also informed the bench that the army had a “steep pyramidal structure” and the force needed more young officers.
Justice Surya Kant, heading the bench, refused to buy the arguments, saying the “country needs a blend of both young and experienced officers”.
The court pointed out that many young army officers were currently posted in inhospitable terrains and at 6,000 feet above sea level, discharging their duties by protecting the country from external forces.
“They are standing without bothering about anything else but the country. All of us feel very little of how much they are all doing for us,” Justice Surya Kant said.
Senior advocate Maneka Guruswamy, appearing for Sharma, recalled that Qureshi would not have been able to achieve what she had without the intervention of the top court, which quashed the concept of short-commissioned officers in the armed forces.
“Your Lordships had intervened in the systemic discrimination. If your Lordships had not interfered, she (Qureshi) wouldn’t be briefing the nation,” Guruswamy told the bench.
The bench, without commenting much on the submission, said the case before the top court was purely a legal one, having nothing to do with the achievements of the officers.
The bench ordered that the petitioners should not be removed from service till the next date of hearing on August 6.