Supreme Court Stays Release Order Issued By Navy To Woman Officer Without Considering Claim For Permanent Commission

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the order of release issued by the Indian Navy to a woman officer without considering her claim for permanent commission.

The lady officer, Lt Cdr Harmeet Kaur, approached the Supreme Court saying that her case was covered by the 'Lt Cdr Annie Nagaraja' judgment of March 2020 whereby the Navy was directed to grant permanent commission to women officers.

The petitioner's counsel, Advocate Pooja Dhar, submitted before a bench led by Justices D Y Chandrachud that she belonged to the ATC cadre of the Indian Navy. It was further submitted that the petitioner was on the same footing as the Priya Khurana's case, which was covered by the March 17 judgment of the Supreme Court.

The counsel submitted that the petitioner was recruited as a Short Service Commission officer on the basis of a notification which stated that the SSC recruits would be considered for Permanent Commission.

While the petitioner was pursuing her remedy before the Armed Forces Tribunal, the Navy served her a letter on November 4 stating that she will be released from service with effect from November 20.

In this backdrop, the petitioner approached the Supreme Court by filing a writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution.

The bench, also including Justices Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee, issued notice on the petition and directed that the release letter should not be given effect to till the next date of posting.

 On March 17, a division bench comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and Ajay Rastogi held in the case Union of India vs Ld Cdr Annie Nagaraja and others that serving women Short Service Commission Officers in Indian Navy were entitled to Permanent Commission at par with their male counterparts.

The Court directed that the judgment should be implemented within three months.

Earlier, the same bench had on February 17 delivered a judgment favoring the extension of Permanent Commission for women in the Indian Army, in the case The Secretary, Ministry of Defence vs Babita Puniya and others.

On October 29, the top court extended the deadline for giving permanent commission to women officers in Navy to 31 December

Click here to read/download the order