The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the armed forces to grant permanent commission to eligible women officers and ordered full pension benefits for those already released, treating them as having completed 20 years of qualifying service. Pensions will be fixed accordingly, with arrears payable from January 1, 2025.
A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, comprising Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and N K Singh, delivered three separate but related judgments, marking the latest chapter in a long legal battle for gender parity in the armed forces. The court highlighted systemic flaws and structural bias in evaluating Short Service Commission women officers (SSCWO) for permanent commission across the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The top court's landmark 2020 verdicts in Secretary, Ministry of Defence vs Babita Puniya and Union of India vs Annie Nagaraja mandated considering women for permanent commission (PC) on par with men. However, subsequent selection boards rejected many women, prompting further challenges. The court noted that Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) were graded casually years ago when policy barred women from PC, leading to consistently lower gradings for them. Chief Justice Kant observed, “the cumulative consequence was a systemic pattern in which women officers… consistently received lower gradings, not due to lack of merit, but due to the absence of any perceived career horizon.” Army women were denied criteria appointments and career-enhancing courses. Air Force applied new 2019 policy criteria. Navy failed to disclose evaluation details. The court rejected vacancy caps as a shield, holding that including SSCWOs in PC consideration is a constitutional obligation, not discretion. It directed permanent commission for eligible officers and full pensions for released ones, with arrears from January 1, 2025.
