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| Major (Ret) Navdeep Singh |
Global Military Justice Reform contributor Major (Ret)
Navdeep Singh has
this op-ed in
The Indian Express on Friday's Delhi High Court ruling. He concludes:
These are times of exhaustive churning. Every military of every democracy has encountered vexed questions in this regard. What seemed odd in the days of yore is pretty much a part of regular life today. With the Chiefs of the Defence Services showing maturity in being open about accepting more women in the forces, the Prime Minister also calling for it, and the apex defence political appointment being held by a woman, there could not be a better time to initiate change and to review matters currently sub judice by identifying a meeting point.
Query: will the government appeal the High Court's decision to the Supreme Court of India?
The term “Army” has been defined in the Regulations for the Army, 1987, paragraph 1(b) as comprising of (i) The regular Army, (ii) The Army Reserve, and (iii) The Territorial Army (TA). The Army Act 1950, section 10 and 11 use the word “persons” who could be commissioned, appointed or enrolled in the regular Army. Section 12 of the Act imposes a bar on enrolment or employment of females in the regular Army only. The Central Government has been empowered to waive this bar in relation to any particular Corps or Department by a notification. Going by this analogy, the government may not go for appeal in the Supreme Court against the induction of women in the TA. However, it reality how many vacancies for women are sanctioned and finally inducted in the TA, only time will tell.
ReplyDeleteU C Jha
TA Rules and Regulations make provisions of Women. Rule 24 provides
ReplyDelete"24. Application of the Army Act, 1950, to enrolled persons—
(1) The Army Act, 1950 and the rules and regulations made thereunder in their application to enrolled persons of the Territorial Army during training shall, subject to the provisions of sub rule (2), be modified in the manner and to the extent specified in Schedule II in the case of males and Schedule II-A in the case of females.
(2) Enrolled persons not being females who are serving on the permanent staff of a unit or are undergoing training at the National Defence Academy shall be subject to the said Act and the rules and regulations made thereunder without any modifications."
Further Schedule-II is specific for Women
SCHEDULE II-A
( See Rule 24)
MODIFICATION OF THE ARMY ACT 1950, IN SO FAR AS IT IS CAPABLE OF APPLICATION TO FEMALES