IMPORTANT POINTS
All serving women officers on SSC shall be considered for the grant of PCs irrespective of any of them having crossed fourteen years or, as the case may be, twenty years of service;
The expression “in various staff appointments only” in para 5 and “on staff appointments only” in para 6 shall not be enforced;
SSC women officers with over twenty years of service who are not granted PC shall retire on pension in terms of the policy decision; and
At the stage of opting for the grant of PC, all the choices for specialisation shall be available to women officers on the same terms as for the male SSC officers.
SSC women officers who are granted PC will be entitled to all consequential benefits including promotion and financial benefits. However, these benefits would be made available to those officers in service or those who had moved the Delhi High Court by filing the Writ Petitions and those who had retired during the course of the pendency of the proceedings.

JUDGMENT :

Dr. Dhananjaya Y. Chandrachud, J

Index

A. Background of the dispute

B. Proposal of the Union of India

C. Submissions

D. Consequence of the policy letter dated 25 February 2019

E. Stereotypes and women in the Armed Forces

F. Consequence of non-compliance

G. Blanket restriction on criteria appointments

H. Directions

A. Background of the dispute

1. A quest for equality of opportunity for women seeking Permanent Commissions[“PC”] in the Indian Army forms the basis of these appeals. The lead appeal originated in a batch of Writ Petitions which were instituted before the High Court of Delhi in 2003 and 2006.

2. A decade and more spent in litigation, women engaged on Short Service Commissions[“SSCs”] in the Army seek parity with their male counterparts in obtaining PCs. The entry of women in the Army has a chequered history. Section 12 of the Army Act 1950, [“1950 Act”] contains, in so far as it is material, the following provisions:

“12. Ineligibility of females for enrolment or employment.-No female shall be eligible for enrolment or employment in the regular Army, except in such corps, department, branch or other body forming part of, or attached to any portion of, the regular Army as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify in this behalf.”

3. Pursuant to the power conferred by Section 12, the Union Government issued a notification, [SRO-11[dated 30 January 1992 making women eligible for appointment as officers in the specific branches/cadres of the Army. These were:

“(i) Army Postal Service;

(ii) Judge Advocate General’s Department;

(iii) Army Education Corps;

(iv) Army Ordinance Corps (Central Ammunition Depots and Material Management); and

(v) Army Service Corps (Food Scientists and Catering Officers).”

This notification was to remain in force for a period of five years from the date on which it was published in the official Gazette. SRO-11 was published in the Gazette on 15 February 1992.

4. By a notification[SRO-1, published in the Gazette on 23 January 1993] dated 31 December 1992, women became eligible for enrollment in the following corps/departments of the regular Army:

“(i) Corps of Signals,

(ii) Intelligence Corps,

(iii) Corps of Engineers,

(iv) Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering,

(v) Regiment of Artillery.”

5. The provision for the induction of women for an initial period of five years was extended by a notification[SRO-10(E)] dated 12 December 1996 issued by the Ministry of Defence[“MoD”]. The notification deleted paragraph 2 of SRO-11 under which enrollment was to be for a period of five years.

6. On 28 October 2005, a notification [SRO-121, published in the Gazette on 19 November 2005] was issued by the MoD by which the Union Government extended the validity “of the scheme of appointment of women as officers in the Indian Army”. To facilitate this, four amendments were made to the earlier notification dated 15 February 1992:

(i) The tenure of women officers inducted under the Women Special Entry Scheme (Officers)[“WSES”] under the notifications dated 15 February 1992, 23 January 1993 and 12 December 1996 was extended by five years from 1997;

(ii) The tenure of SSC male officers and WSES officers was extended up to fourteen years;

(iii) The WSES was to cease to apply as a consequence of which women officers were to be inducted through SSC in the corps/services notified by the notification dated 15 February 1992, 23 January 1993 and 12 December 1996; and

(iv) Substantive promotions were to be extended both to men and women SSC officers “as applicable to PC officers”.

7. Initially, when the WSES was notified under an Army instruction[SAI NO/1/5/92], it was governed by the Terms of Engagement.[“ToE”] Para 1 of the ToE stipulated that commission would be for a period of five years in th