[Agnipath Scheme] Delhi High Court seeks consolidated reply from Central government; refuses stay

The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought a consolidated reply from the Central government in all petitions challenging the Agnipath Scheme for recruitment into the Armed Forces..A Division Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad, however, refused to stay the scheme's implementation, saying that they will not pass an interim order and will hear the case finally..The Bench also asked the government to file a separate reply to petitions challenging the recruitment processes before the introduction of the Agnipath Scheme..The Court is hearing a batch of matters related to the Agnipath Scheme and recruitment into the Armed Forces as a whole.While one petition is by shortlisted airmen in the Indian Air Force (IAF) demanding that their recruitment should be done as per the 2019 notification, another petition is in the form of a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the Indian Navy’s recruitment process and shortlisting criteria of Person Below Officer Rank (PBORs).A PIL has also been filed seeking directions to the Central government to resume all recruitment processes in the defence forces which were cancelled due to the introduction of the Agnipath Scheme.This petition is by a candidate who had cleared the physical and medical exams and got the admit card for the written exam as well. But the recruitment process was then cancelled due to the introduction of the new scheme..The Agnipath Scheme proposes to induct youth into the Army for four years, after which, out of the selected candidates, only 25 percent will be continued in the Indian Army while the rest will be denied jobs in the Armed Forces. The introduction of the Scheme had prompted widespread protests across the country, some of which turned violent. It had also led to a slew of petitions being filed in various courts..The Supreme Court had in July transferred the petitions listed before itself as well as various High Courts across the country to the Delhi High Court.