After the much-needed step of ensuring gender equality in the Indian Army, the Centre issued a formal sanction government letter for grant of Permanent Commission (PC) to women officers in the force which specifies grant of PC to Short Service Commission (SSC) women officers in ten streams.
According to a report by Times Now, the order specifies grant of Permanent Commission to SSC women officers in all ten streams of Indian Army which includes: air defence, signals, engineers, army aviation, electronics and mechanical engineers, army service corps and intelligence corps. This is in addition to the existing streams of judge and advocate general and army educational corps.
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Col Aman Anand, Army Spokersperson said, "The order specifies grant of permanent commission to Short Service Commissioned (SSC) women officers in all 10 streams of the Indian Army."
"Their Selection Board will be scheduled as soon as all affected SSC women officers exercise their option and complete requisite documentation," the Army spokesperson said.
This move has come after a Supreme Court bench had directed the Centre to implement its verdict which directed that permanent commission be given to all serving SSC women officers of the Indian Army. The bench was comprised of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Indu Malhotra.
The verdict took place on February 17, 2020 and the apex court directed that women officers are provided with permanent commission and command postings.
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The Centre's argument was that women officers cannot be granted PC due to physiological limitations which was rejected by the apex court.
The SC's statement was,?"To cast aspersion on their abilities on the ground of gender is an affront not only to their dignity as women but to the dignity of the members of the Indian Army men and women who serve as equal citizens in a common mission".
"The submissions advanced in the note tendered to this Court are based on sex stereotypes premised on assumptions about socially ascribed roles of gender which discriminate against women," the court had said.
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