SC to Centre: Consider more vacancies in Army

Soldiers give “best part of their lives” to the country, the Supreme Court observed on Thursday while urging the government to create additional vacancies in the armed forces.

The bench headed by Justice T S Thakur made the remark while reserving its verdict on the appeal of the Defence Ministry against the Armed Forces Tribunal’s decision to quash Army’s ‘command exit promotion’ policy on the ground that it violated Article 14 (right to equality) of the Constitution.

“You see there are large number of vacancies. Give them the additional vacancies. They give best part of their lives to the services,” the bench, also comprising Justice Kurian Joseph, said while wrapping up the hearing.

One of the lawyers, at the fag end of the hearing, also told the court that there are around 10,000 vacancies at senior levels in the Army.