After giving permanent commission to women in Army, the Supreme court on Tuesday came out strongly for women in the Indian Navy, as it says "women officers can sail as efficiently as male officers".
While giving out the verdict on granting permanent commission to serving women officers in the Navy, a bench of Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Ajay Rastogi directed the government to implement the order within three months.
The court observed that "denying permanent commission to women officers who have served the nation would result in serious miscarriage of justice."
"Once statutory bar was lifted to allow entry of women officers then male and female officers are to be treated equally in granting permanent commission,” the top court said.
The court took note of a 2008 policy of the Ministry of Defence that allowed permanent commission prospectively to woman officers, but denied it to serving officers. But the MoD policy restricted permanent commission to only education, law and naval architecture branches, which the apex court now termed as "discriminatory".
Sanjay Jain, the additional solicitor general, argued that there are practical difficulties in allowing the induction of women short service commission officers on permanent commission, as Indian Navy substantially operates Russian origin ships in which there is an absence of toilet facilities for women.
"There is a possibility of certain branches involved sea-going duties being opened up for women officers on permanent commission in near future as new ships are introduced into the naval fleet," Jain told the court.
Responding to AG's opinion, the court observed that these reasons are 'illusory and without any foundation." The court also stated that AG's submissions were contrary to MoD's communication (dated February 1999) to the Navy chief, which emphatically stipulates that women officers of all branches or cadres could be directed to serve on board ships both during training and subsequent employment in accordance with the exigencies of service.
"In the face of this communication, it is impossible to countenance a submission that women can not sail alongside men sailors," the apex court observed.
The court further said that to deprive serving women officers of the opportunity to work as equals with men on permanent commission in the Indian Navy is "plainly discriminatory". It also observed that to contend that women officers are ill-suited to certain avocations which involve them bring abroad ships is contrary to the equal worth of the women officers who dedicate their lives to serving in the cause of the nation.
The apex court stated that a level-playing field ensures that women have the opportunity to overcome their histories of discrimination with the surest of responses based on their competence, ability and performance.
With this order, permanent commission officer can serve in the Navy till he/she retires unlike short service commission (SSC), which is currently for 10 years and can be extended by four more years, or a total of 14 years.
In 2008, the government had decided to grant permanent commission to women officers but it was only applicable prospectively to women SSC officers. And the serving women officers were excluded from this entitlement.
Commander R. Prasanna (retd), one of the litigants of the case, while calling the verdict as a huge achievement, says, "It was a well fought victory against a skewed policy."
Last month, in a similar judgment, the SC had upheld a 2010 Delhi High Court ruling, by giving permanent commission to women officers in the Indian Army on par with male officers, including a command posting.
