Cdr Seema Chaudhary vs Union of India

Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

2024 Supreme(SC) 166

D. Y. CHANDRACHUD, HIMA KOHLI
Cdr Seema Chaudhary – Appellant
Versus
Union of India – Respondent

Advocates appeared:
For the Appellant(s) [CA 847-851, 841-843, 846, 2216, 856-858, 2457, 2059-2060, 852-854 & 844 of 2022] : Mr. Huzefa Ahmadi, Sr. Adv., Mr. C.U. Singh, Sr. Adv, Ms. Haripriya Padmanabhan, Adv. Ms. Pooja Dhar, AOR Mr. Mantavya Sharma, Adv. Ms. Tanya Srivastava, Adv. Mr. Sudhanshu S. Pandey, Adv., Mr. Gaichangpou Gangmei, AOR, Mr. Arjun D. Singh, Adv., Mr. Yashvir Kumar, Adv., Mr. Abhishek R Shukla, Adv., Brig (Retd.) Vivek Chhatre, Adv. Mr. Siddhant Buxy, AOR Mr. Krishna Sumanth, Adv., Ms. Kamini Jaiswal, Adv. Mr. Abhimanue Shrestha, AOR Ms. Rani Mishra, Adv. Mr. Divyansh Khurana, Adv., Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Sr. Adv., Mr. Anupam Raina, Adv. Mr. Nikhil Palli, Adv. Ms. Kaunain Fatma, Adv. Mr. Deepak Goel, AOR
For the Respondent(s) [UOI]: Mr. Sanjay Jain, ASG Mr. R. Balasubramanian, Sr. Adv. Ms. Neela Kedar Gokhale, Adv. Mr. Anukalp Jain, Adv. Ms. Swarupama Chaturvedi, Adv. Mr. Arkaj Kumar, Adv. Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, AOR
For the Impleador [in CA 847-851/22] : Mr. Huzefa Ahmadi, Sr. Adv. Ms. Shahrukh Alam, Adv. Mr. Alok Kr. Aggarwal, Adv. Ms. Anushka Sharma, Adv. Ms. Simran Arora, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Goel, AOR

JUDGMENT :

DHANANJAYA Y. CHANDRACHUD, CJI.

1. A batch of petitions pertaining to the grant of Permanent Commission¹ [“PC”] to Short Service Commission² [“SSC”] Officers in the Indian Navy was disposed of by this Court by its judgment in Union of India vs. Lieutenant Commander Annie Nagaraja, (2020) 13 SCC 1. The review petitioner was one of the officers before this Court. The submissions which were urged on her behalf were set out in paragraph 52 of the judgment.

2. In order to appreciate the grievance in the review petition, a reference to some of the salient facts would be in order. The petitioner was commissioned in the Indian Navy as a Short Service Commissioned Officer³ [“SSCO”] in the Judge Advocate Generals⁴ [“JAG”] Branch of the Indian Navy on 6 August 2007. She was promoted on 6 August 2009 as a Lieutenant and, thereafter, on 6 August 2012 as a Lieutenant Commander. During the course of her service, she was granted an extension in November 2016 for a period of two years and, thereafter, for an equivalent duration in August 2018. On 5 August 2020, the petitioner was informed that she would stand released from service on 5 August 2021.

3. The judgment of this Court in Lieutenant