Supreme Court on Monday refused to clarify whether women short service commission officers (WSSCO) would be granted permanent commissions, saying that any questions about its March 25 judgement should be addressed to the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT).
“As judges, we get fed up with miscellaneous applications (MA). There are human limitations on us. We have laid down the law for a broad class of individuals. How can we entertain individual cases of officers?” the bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and MR Shah said.Human beings have limitations. We have established the law for a large group of people. Asked by the bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and M.R. Shah, Centre and women officers had filed two sets of applications seeking clarifications on how the Supremacy Clause would be implemented before the judges.
The Indian Army was ordered on March 25 to positively grant permanent commission to all WSSCOs who received 60 percent in their assessment, subject to them meeting the army’s medical criteria and receiving disciplinary and vigilance clearance, as well as meeting the medical criteria prescribed by the army’s August 1 2020 order. The government was given three months to complete this exercise by the court.
The Centre’s application sought to determine whether permanent commission should be granted to WSSCOs who met the court’s benchmark of 60 percent but were found “unfit” on discipline or vigilance grounds by a selection board in September 2020.
According to the army, 514 of the 529 WSSCOs who chose permanent commission met the 60 percent grade requirement.
However, 72 of the 514 women officers were ineligible for permanent commissions under two army policies issued on September 30, 1983, and February 24, 2012, which require WSSCOs to be “fit” and achieve at least 60% marks, and the court was asked to clarify whether this meant permanent commissions had to be granted regardless of whether the criteria were met.
“Government should not have filed this application. We do not want to encourage this. Everything was argued before us and now we won’t entertain it,” the bench said.
Women short service commission officers who were denied permanent commission (PC) and face being released from service next month were also in court, pleading for a stay of execution.
The bench asked them to approach the tribunal. “The Government has given benefits to a large mass of people (among WSSCOs). By mistake, if the benefit may have been left out for some, for that the AFT is there.”
“What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. You have not yet gone to the tribunal,” the bench remarked, noting that some women officers have already approached the tribunal.
