Gender-Neutral Terms For Armed Forces Officials Will Soon Be Notified: Centre To Punjab & Haryana High Court

The Central government has submitted before the Punjab and Haryana High Court that efforts to change the nomenclature used for Armed Forces officials to "gender neutral" terminology are underway.

It stated that the the Government "shall duly notify and implement such a term (gender neutral) expeditiously and in the near future, ensuring that it reflects not only the ethos of the Indian subcontinent but also aligns seamlessly with global inclusivity standards."

It also added that the Government acknowledges the evolving societal landscape and the importance of embracing gender neutrality in all aspects of governance, including the nomenclature used by the Armed Forces and they are actively engaged in efforts aimed at "formulating an acceptable gender-neutral term".

The reply was filed by the Joint Director in the Directorate Resettlement Zone (Ministry of Defence) in a petition seeking directions to Union government to use gender inclusive term instead of "Ex-service man" to refer the Ex-Service Personnel for the purposes of certain schemes and benefits of the Central Government.

It is contended that even the terminology used in the title of the department that was created to lay focused attention to the welfare and resettlement of Ex-service personnel is gender-specific i.e. “Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare” and the same is the case with rules for reservation for ex-service personnel i.e. Ex- servicemen (Re-employment in Central Civil Services and Posts) Rules, 1979.

Considering the submissions, a division bench of Acting Chief Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Nidhi Gupta had issued notice to the Union government and other authorities.

The petition is filed by a retired Short Service Commissioned Officer Captain Sukhjit Pal Kaur Sanewal through Advocate Navdeep Singh seeking directions to Central government to employ gender- inclusive terminology while referring to former women members of the defence services instead of 'Ex-Service man', that is currently being used by the Union and other authorities in policies and communications.

It also refers to Handbook on Combating Gender Stereotypes which has been issued by Supreme Court to identify and remove the use of words and phrases, which are loaded with gender stereotypes, in judgments and court language.

The matter is now listed for May 16, for further consideration.

Navdeep Singh, Advocate for the petitioner.

Satya Pal Jain, Addl. Solicitor General of India, Dheeraj Jain, Sr. Panel Counsel for the respondents-UOI.

Title: Captain Sukhjit Pal Kaur vs. Union of India and others