Navy women get a shot at equality

NEW DELHI: To deprive serving women officers of the opportunity to work as equals with men on a permanent commission (PC) in the Indian Navy is plain discriminatory, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, saying serving short service commissioned (SSC) women officers in the navy were entitled to PC.

A bench of justices DY Chandrachud

and Hemant Gupta followed up its February 17 decision in a similar case relating to the Indian Army, in which the top court had struck a blow for gender parity by holding that SSC women officers in service in the army were entitled to PC.

“To contend that women officers are ill-suited to certain avocations which involve them being aboard ships is contrary to the equal worth of the women officers who dedicate their lives to serving in the cause of the nation,” the court held on Tuesday, brushing aside the argument by the central government that sailing in the Indian Navy was not a proper career for women.

The court struck down a restrictive stipulation imposed by the central government in 2008 as per which PC for SSC women officers were to be granted only prospectively from January 2009, thereby denying the benefit of PC to women officers who were already in the service. “The stipulation in the policy letter dated 26 September 2008 making it prospective and restricting its application to specified cadres/branches of the Indian Navy shall not be enforced,” the court said in its verdict. A permanent commission entitles an officer to 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.