'Substantial Means Nothing': SC Gives Centre a Month to Ensure Permanent Commission for Women in Army

The Supreme Court on Tuesday told the central government that they must make a "complete" compliance and not just "substantial" compliance with the court orders to give permanent commissions and command posts to eligible women officers in the army

Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, it gave government one more month to implement its orders while taking on record a statement that the directives will be complied with in letter and spirit.

A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud took exception to the Centre's application which stated that efforts are being made for "substantial" compliance with the directions issued by the court in its February 17 verdict.

"What do you mean when you use the term 'substantial compliance'? There is nothing called as 'substantial compliance' after the court has passed its orders. You must have to fully comply," Justice Chandrachud told senior lawyer R Balasubramanian, who appeared for the Ministry of Defence.

The bench's poser came after senior lawyers Meenakshi Lekhi and Meenakshi Arora expressed their apprehensions regarding the manner in which the government was trying to overreach the court orders.

The lawyers, appearing for the women officers, contended that the criteria of physical standards that were discontinued by army in 2011 have now been reintroduced only to deny benefits of permanent commission to women officers who have been in service for more than 10 years.

They brought it back on the premise of gender parity only to defeat the purpose of this judgment thereby compelling a 40 or a 45-year-old woman officer compete with their male counterparts in terms of physical standards, they said.

On his part, Subramanian assured the bench that there is no attempt to overreach the orders of the apex court and that the final executing orders will be issued by the government at any time now.

"The government will never try to overreach the orders of this court. We will comply with court orders in letter and spirit," submitted Subramanian.

The bench then took on record Subramanian's statement and gave them one more month to implement the order.

In its application, MoD had asked for six extra months from the Supreme Court to grant permanent commission to eligible women officers in the army and make provisions for command posts for them.

The application by the Centre underlined that it was not possible to comply with the court’s orders owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, which crippled the administrative functioning of the ministry as well as within the army.

"The applicants have commenced the process of substantial compliance of the directions issued by this Hon'ble Court in earnest and in letter and spirit. However in view of the Corona pandemic and the ensuing lockdown coupled with exigencies of services, the applicants have not been able to complete the same and requires some more time to complete the process," stated the application.