No Woman Navy Officer Granted Permanent Commission; SC Intervenes

By: WE Staff | Thursday, 14 December 2023

The Indian Navy failed to find any woman officer fit for Permanent Commission promotion in 2020. The Supreme Court has demanded confidential papers detailing the denial of promotion of six female officers who approached the court, claiming "systematic discrimination," from the Union Defence Ministry.

"It is not possible that not a single woman has been named eligible for promotion following our ruling on March 17, 2020," a bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud remarked. Six female naval officers submitted an application to the court asking to be promoted to the rank of captain.

The bench, which also included justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, expressed surprise that not a single woman had been promoted after Attorney General (AG) R Venkataramani confirmed that of those granted permanent commission, not a single woman had been promoted.

The court has directed the Centre and Indian Navy to produce an approach paper about six officers being considered for promotion by the Selection Board, stating that the denial is purely merit-based and will be determined by the court.

The AG differentiated this case from similar petitions by women officers in the Indian Army, stating that they were considered with their peers in 2018, not junior officers. Senior Advocate V Mohana representing the lady officers' argued that women were considered for promotion alongside junior officers and that no approach paper was prepared for subsequent years, resulting in "systematic discrimination" from the 2016 to 2020 "look year".

The court stated limited relief to Advocate Mohana due to the application being heard in a March 2020 decision, not a writ petition. The bench suggested Mohana to file a petition before the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), citing previous considerations in 2018, 2019, and 2020.