The Indian army recently informed that Special No 5 Selection Board has selected around 422 out of 615 candidates out of women army officers for permanent commission in the armed force.

Permanent Commission in Army refers to the option of continuing as an officer till the age of retirement. For permanent commission, an officer must join the National Defence Academy (NDA), Indian Military Academy (IMA) or Officers Training Academy (OTA). Till date, women were not allowed for combat roles in the Indian Army. In 2010, Delhi High Court had passed a judgement in which it allowed Permanent Commission for women in Indian Army. The then-Congress government opposed the decision and had filed a petition against the judgement in the Supreme Court. It took almost a decade for the Apex court to complete the proceedings and allow Permanent Commission for women in Indian Army. The current regime that was opposing the permanent commission under Congress rule changed its stand after the arrival of BJP at the helm and supported the Permanent Commission for women. However, they had suggested some restrictions which were rejected by the Supreme Court.

This year, SCI in a landmark judgment on February 17, had granted permanent commission to women officers in the Army irrespective of their number of years of service. The women officer-litigants had been fighting the case for over a decade.

GOI formally issued the sanction letter for grant of Permanent Commission to women officers in Indian Army on July 23 this year. It is meant to empower women officers to hold larger roles in the military.  Spokesperson of the Indian Army said that the order grants Permanent Commission to Short Service Commissioned (SSC) women officers in all ten streams of Indian Army in addition to the existing streams of Judge and Advocate General (JAG) and Army Educational Corps (AEC). A selection board will be scheduled for the officers once the affected SSC officers exercise their options and complete required documentation.

The Army declared on Thursday that around 49% women officers would continue to serve in the force. Some of whom fought a legal battle lasting 14 years have been found eligible for a permanent commission by the Army. Declaring the results of the first-ever board held for granting Permanent Commission to women soldiers, the Army said around 320 women officers would retire after 20 years of pensionable service.

Out of the 615 women officers considered for permanent commission in the Army, 422 have been found fit, according to results of a special selection board released by the Army on Thursday.

The women officers who have been selected for permanent commission belong to branches such as Engineers, Signals, Intelligence Corps, Army Air Defence, Army Aviation Corps, Army Ordnance Corps, Army Service Corps, and Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering. There are approximately 1,653 women officers serving in the Army currently out of a total of nearly 43,000 officers.

This came out in the board results declassified by the Army on Thursday, according to sources in the armed service. The Army headquarters had convened a Special Number 5 Selection Board to screen women officers to grant them a permanent commission.

The eligible women officers are of the rank of majors and lieutenant colonels. Many of them have already served in the Army for over 20 years but had not been given promotions since the matter was sub-judice.

In February 2019, the GOI endorsed the permanent commission for women officers in the Indian Army. The government said that the women should be allowed for permanent commission in 10 different roles of ‘Combat Support Arms’ and ‘Service sections’-Streams of the Indian Army including- Army Air Defence (AAD), Signals, Engineers, Army Aviation, Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME), Army Service Corps (ASC), Army Ordnance Corps (AOC), and Intelligence Corps in addition to the existing streams of Judge and Advocate General (JAG) and Army Educational Corps (AEC). However, the government had also said that women officers would not be appointed on the commanding officer’s position and that they will serve as staff only.

On February 17, 2020, the Supreme Court had dismissed the government’s argument that only those women officers who have completed less than 14 years of service will be eligible for permanent commission. The court also rejected the clause that women officers with more than 20 years of service should be immediately pensioned. The court stated that all women officers would be eligible for the command posts that also went against the option indicated by the government in 2019.

SCI said that if women officers are kept away from commanding posts for physical, social, and mental reasons, it will be considered discriminatory. The court said that women are not physiologically weaker than men and ordered to provide an option of the permanent commission for Short Service Commission women officers who were eligible for the posts without taking their years of service into consideration. The Apex court asked GOI to complete the process by July.

On July 7, GOI told the Supreme Court that the process is in its last stage and they need little more time to complete the formalities. The Centre got a one-month extension on July 7 to implement the Supreme Court’s verdict after it moved an application before the apex court seeking the extension of the deadline by another six months citing the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown imposed to check its spread from March 25. Senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for the petitioners- Babita Puniya, and Meenakshi Lekhi, argued that the government is only trying to delay the process. Senior advocate R. Balasubramanian who was representing the centre in the case said that the allegations are not true, and that the government will complete the process in the next month.

Women number just over 1,600 in the 43,000 strong officer cadre in the Army. The military brass for long opposed PC and command roles for women due to “operational, practical and cultural problems”. Women officers, of course, are still not allowed to join main combat arms like infantry, mechanized infantry, artillery, and armored corps in the Army.

They also cannot serve onboard warships and submarines in the Navy. But the IAF, which already had women command transport aircrafts and function as helicopter pilots, has commissioned 10 women as fighter pilots since 2016 to break yet another glass ceiling.

The author is a student member of Amity Centre of Happiness