Supreme Court Refuses The Petition For PC OF WMO
Supreme Court refuses to consider a petition for the permanent commission of women military officers. The Supreme Court refuses to consider a plea by the apex court to provide benefits of permanent commission to women military officers who have completed 14 years of service in the military after the scheduled date of February 17.
The apex court said that the relief sought by the women officers is in a way to reconsider her decision and if SC allows it, the second batch of officers can also seek similar relief. The Court, in its landmark judgment on 17 February, directed the Center to consider giving permanent commission to all serving SSC women officers within three months whether they had crossed 14 years of service or 20 years of service.
The court had said that as a one-time measure, the benefit of reaching the pensionable service period of 20 years will be given to all the existing SSC officers who have been serving for more than 14 years. A bench of Justices Dhananjay Y Chandrachud, Indu Malhotra, and KM Joseph said on Thursday that it was not keen to consider the plea as the relief sought in it was akin to a reconsideration of the judgment.
During the hearing of the case, senior advocate Meenakshi Lekhi said that this application has been filed by 19 women officers who retired in March and they want the benefits of permanent commission. Lekhi said that the date fixed by the court is the judgment day i.e. February 17 but the government’s order to accept the cut off date and provide permanent commission came on July 17.
Justice Chandrachud said, “If we relax the cut-off date, there will be no end to it.” Where do we draw the line? I am worried about it. ‘ The bench referred to the verdict and said that it was instructed only as a one-time measure. The bench remarked, ‘These women officers have completed 14 years in service in March and we had set the cut-off date as the date of our decision.
The government order came later. How far can we go? ‘ On behalf of the Center, Senior Advocate R.K. Balasubrahmanyan opposed this application and said that it cannot be left open. He said that the existing applicants had not completed 14 years of service on 17 February, the date of the verdict given by the apex court.
He said that the government passed an order on 16 July regarding the permanent commission and that all women military officers who have completed 14 years of service by the date of 17 February will get pension and other benefits. He said that if the court allows the issue to remain open, it will be difficult for the government to implement it.
The bench told Lekhi, “Now, if we give the benefit of this (to the applicants), then we have to give it to the officers of the subsequent batch also.” The bench said that this would have serious implications as each batch would complete 14 years in service. The bench asked Lekhi to withdraw this application and wait for the board to consider their applications for giving them a permanent commission.
