39 women Army officers get Permanent Commission after SC's intervention

Thirty-nine women Army officers have won a Permanent Commission after Supreme Court’s intervention.

A two-judge bench of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice BV Nagarathna on Friday (October 22) asked the Centre to grant the eligible women officers their new service status within a week.

A total of 71 women Short Service Commission officers had approached the apex court after they were denied Permanent Commission.

A Permanent Commission guarantees a job till retirement, while Short Service Commission is for 10 years only. In any case, an officer on Short Service Commission can seek a Permanent Commission at the end of 10 years. In case the officer doesn’t get Permanent Commission, he or she can ask for a four-year extension.

The Union government told the Supreme Court that of the 71 officers, 39 were found eligible for Permanent Commission, seven were medically unfit and 25 had “issues of discipline”.

Also read: In a first, Army allows time-scale Colonel rank to five women officers

Earlier, the SC has sought a report from the Centre on why the 25 officers are not eligible for a Permanent Commission. The SC observed that Army’s evaluation criteria for granting Permanent Commission to women officers was “systematically discriminated against them”.

On October 1, the court had asked the government not to relieve any of the officers from service, pending an explanation on why they cannot be given a Permanent Commission.