Discrimination on the basis of gender has no place in today’s society, especially within the armed forces, the Delhi High Court has directed the Central Government to appoint a female candidate as a pilot in the Air Force.
A bench of Justice C Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla ruled last week, while hearing a petition filed by a female candidate, who sought instructions for one of the unfolded posts for his appointment.
The bench said, “The difference between a man and the woman, in the present time, a chance has reduced to nothing more than the chromosomal situation, and it will be an irreactivic as well as an anocronistic.”
The petitioners appeared after the National Defense Academy and Naval Academy Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in 2023, in which they secured the seventh rank among women candidates. According to an official notification date, May 17, 2023, a total of 92 vacancies were advertised for the flying post, of which two were placed for women.
After the results were declared, both the seats reserved for women were filled, while 70 out of 90 vacancies were captured, which made 20 seats vacant. In its light, the woman approached the High Court, demanding to consider one of the 20 uncontrolled seats, despite that she was not kept for women candidates.
In her petition, the woman also argued that 90 seats were not specifically reserved for men and can be filled by men as well as women.
However, the Center’s lawyer presented that 90 seats were reserved only for male candidates. The lawyer further stated that 20 vacancies will not be incomplete, as the recruitment process is not limited to the NDA entry route, but it also includes selection through Air Force Common Admission Test (AFCAT) and Joint Defense Services Examination. Permission for appointment of more women through NDA can reduce the opportunities available to women candidates under AFCAT quota.
The bench, however, dismissed the controversy as unstable, stating that the notification did not clearly mention that 90 posts were reserved only for male candidates, and it was open to include the same in its advertisements for UPSC.
“90 vacancies cannot be considered for male candidates, in addition to 2 vacancies, for female candidates, notified by the notification issued by UPSC on 17 May 2023. They were vacancies that were open to women as well as male candidates.”
On the dispute that 20 vacancies have been placed for other women candidates, the court said that the Center needed to “reduce the said vacancies from women candidates, which were less in merit to two candidates, who were elected against two hardcore vacancies.”
The court later directed the Center to appoint the petitioner against one of the 20 flying vacancies. For all service benefits, with 70 male and two female candidates, all service benefits will be treated at the equilibrium, which have been selected and appointed.
The court said in a 12-page judgment issued at a later date, “We are not mercifully, in times that can be discriminated between male and female candidates as an entry into the armed forces-or, for that case, there is a relationship elsewhere.
It said, “It is some time to adopt a pedestrian proverb, that someone wakes up and smells coffee.”
