SC frowns upon ‘arbitrariness’ in criteria appointment of women Army officers

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday frowned upon the ‘arbitrariness’ in the consideration of ‘criteria appointment’ for Short Service Commission (SSC) women Army officers seeking permanent commission as compared to their male counterparts.

A ‘criteria appointment’ usually means an officer given command of a post in a difficult and hostile area or operation.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and N Kotiswar Singh, which was hearing a plea of 13 women Army officers challenging the denial of permanent commission to them, questioned how there can be two parameters for male and female officers, who undergo the same training and postings.

“How can there be two criteria based on gender? Is there a different format for evaluating SSC women officers and male officers? Is this format different for SSC officers and those in permanent commission?” the bench questioned.

Senior advocate Maneka Guruswamy, appearing for the 13 officers along with advocate Amrita Panda, said the appellants are aggrieved by the casual grading received despite undergoing the same training and postings as their male counterparts.

“This grading resulted from a subjective assessment conducted at a time when they were not eligible for Permanent Commission (PC). Unlike male officers, whose performance was continuously assessed with PC in mind, the Appellants’ ACRs froze in 2019, prior to this court’s ruling granting women eligibility for PC in 2020,” Guruswamy submitted.

She pointed out that among the 13 officers she represented, Lt Col Vanita Padhi was posted in the UN Peacekeeping Mission in Congo, Lt Col Chandni Mishra was the first woman pilot in 88 countries to have flown Manoeuvrable Expendable Aerial Target (MEAT) and Lt. Col Geeta Sharma has also been posted in High Altitude Areas like Ladakh and Major Khim has served in Akhnoor (near Pakistan Border).

Guruswamy said among the officers, Lt Col Geeta Sharma has served on ‘Criteria Appointments’ as Officer Commanding Communication for ‘Operation Galwan’ at Ladakh; Lt Col Swati Rawat as Officer Commanding Workshop for ‘Operation Sindoor’ and Lt Col Swati Rawat in Counter Insurgency area at Basauli of Jammu and Kashmir and Lt Col Vanita Padhi as Company Commander in Firozpur, Border Area of Punjab during Operation Sindoor.

“However, unlike their male counterparts, their (women officers) ACRs did not reflect this as a ‘Criteria Appointment’. For male officers, ACRs for such appointments were categorised as ‘Criteria Reports’, with explicit mention of the appointment being a ‘Criteria Appointment’, which are considered for the grant of PC,” she submitted.

Guruswamy added: “Women officers, despite holding identical appointments, were issued ACRs which were ‘Non-Criteria Reports’, with no mention of the appointment being a ‘Criteria Appointment’, since they were not

eligible for PC.”