“We are putting you on notice. If this is not rectified, we will have to come down heavily on you. Because it appears, ex facie, that there has been an attempt to go around our order… We will now take it very seriously. Tell the authority at the highest level. We want this to be rectified. Next day, if you tell us a different thing, we will have to issue a notice of contempt,” a Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud told Additional Solicitor General KM Natraj.
“Now, we are giving you a last opportunity to set your house in order. Otherwise, we are going to haul you up,” said the Bench that also included Justice JB Pardiwala.
Asking the Ministry of Defence to file an affidavit on the issue in two weeks, the Bench posted the matter for further hearing on April 21.
Natraj said if possible, the Defence Ministry will definitely rectify it.
On behalf of the petitioners, senior counsel V Mohana pointed out that the top court’s decision in Lt Col Nitisha & Others Vs Union of India & Others in terms of which the overall service profile of the women officers was required to be considered.
Though the Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) of the women officers based on their whole service profile were required to be considered, they were pegged at the ACRs for 2011, namely, the corresponding batches of the male officers, she complained.
Mohana alleged that fresh barriers such as refusal of the selection board to consider the latest ACRs of the women officers, insistence on filling vacancies on a pro-rata basis, deliberately assigning woman officers promoted to lead contingents that were normally led by officers junior in rank have been created to deny them command postings.
Stating that the male officers who underwent the promotion process were reviewed twice by different boards in one year, Mohana alleged that for women, the same board conducted the review process. “It’s like the same division Bench deciding an appeal.
Terming it as “totally unfortunate”, Mahana lamented that women officers had to keep coming back to the top court for total compliance, in both letter and spirit, of the judgment that said women officers should be given a permanent commission and all other consequential benefits, including promotion.
