In a landmark judgment, the Delhi High Court on Friday allowed women to be granted permanent commission in the Navy, ensuring that women naval officers enjoyed rights similar to their counterparts in the Army and the Air Force.
The court said it would not allow “sexist bias” to block women’s progress.
Allowing a bunch of writ petitions moved by a group of women naval officers, a Division Bench said since women were “here to stay” and since they worked shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts, the court would “frown upon any endeavour to restrain the progress of women”.
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The Bench, comprising Justice Kailash Gambhir and Justice Najmi Waziri, held that women could now have full-term service in the Navy and enjoy retirement benefits, including pension.
As of now, Navy treated women officers as a group entitled only to a short service commission of 14 years and men were entitled to both short service and permanent commissions.
The women naval officers were not eligible for pension, since it required a minimum of 20 years of service. The petitions were filed by a group of women officers, both retired and serving, from the logistics, education and air traffic control departments of the Navy.
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The petitioners contended that they were losing out on career opportunities and had been deprived of pension because of the forced short service commission.
The High Court had issued notices in the case to the Chief of the Naval Staff and the Defence Ministry, asking them to clarify their stand. It had asked the respondents to explain the criteria adopted by them in case of women and men officers while deciding on the permanent commission.