‘Reservation for male officers’: SC strikes down Army’s JAG hiring policy
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday struck down the Indian Army’s recruitment policy for Judge Advocate General (JAG) posts after two women candidates challenged the 2023 merit list.
Calling what is reported violative of the right to equality, the court reportedly said ‘the executive cannot restrict their numbers and/or make a reservation for male officers under the guise of ‘extent of induction’ by way of a policy or administrative instruction’.
A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan called the selection of the male candidate with fewer marks over the female candidates having more marks as amounting to ‘indirect discrimination’, hence male candidate is ‘ not entitled to any relief’ .
The women candidates were ranked 4th and 5th in the merit list despite securing more grades, where male candidate with lesser marks than the female candidate at Serial No.10 in the Females Merit List was ranked 3 rd, thus denying them selection.
Where recruitment notification offered only three vacancies for female candidates, male candidates had six vacancies.
The Army’s policy for JAG recruitment recommends an intake ratio of 50% (men) and 50% (women) for JAG branch effective from 2024 to 2032 or until the time 50:50 cadre ratio is achieved or which of them is earlier.
Calling this ‘gender-neutral’ policy discriminatory against women, the court said that ‘However, to restrict the women candidates to 50% of the seats, as argued by the Respondents, despite they being more meritorious than the male candidates is violative of the Right to Equality’.
Subsequently, the court directed the Centre to ‘henceforth conduct recruitment in the aforesaid manner as well as publish a common merit list for all JAG candidates (i.e. for all male and female candidates) and make the merit list public as well as the marks obtained by all candidates participating in the selection process’.
