Plea before Punjab & Haryana High Court against 89% quota for men in IAF recruitment ad

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today sought the Union government's response to a plea challenging a recruitment notification that extended 89 per cent reservation to men for Short Service Commission (SSC) posts in ground duty branches of the Indian Air Force (IAF) [Captain Sukhjit Pal Kaur Sanewal v UOI & Ors.]..A Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji issued notice on the petition filed by Captain Sukhjit Pal Kaur, a retired Short Commissioned Officer who was among the first women officers recruited to the Indian Army under the Women Special Entry Scheme..Captain Kaur's petition has contended that although both male and female candidates are eligible to apply for the post, a December 2023 recruitment advertisement to join "ground duty" branches (as opposed to flight duty branches, which are direct combat roles) of the IAF only left 11 per cent of the 279 spots for female candidates. The bulk of these posts (89 per cent) were reserved for men, the Court was told. .The petitioner questioned whether such 89 per cent reservation for male candidates violates the fundamental right to equality and non-discrimination under Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution.As per the petitioner, it amounts to a perverse form of gender discrimination and also violates judgments of the Supreme Court."The action of the Respondents not only results in Gender Discrimination but also results in jettisoning of merit based on gender which is detrimental to national and greater public interest wherein women with much higher merit would not be granted appointment in Ground Duty Branches, while men with much lower merit would be appointed instead," the plea added..The plea further stated that in 2023, a similar gender-based reservation for men in the Army Dental Corps was strongly criticised by the Supreme Court in the case of Gopika Nair Vs Union of India. In that case, the matter was eventually resolved after the Union of India assured that recruitment would be gender-neutral going forward, the petitioner recounted. Similarly, it was highlighted that the top court has frowned upon discrimination against women in the military when women were not considered for permanent commission on par with male officers, in the Babita Puniya case and in the case of Lt Col Nitisha va Union of India. Despite this, the Central government is taking regressive steps and turning the clock back, the petitioner has submitted. "In the instant case, the discrimination is totally direct rather than indirect and not only unconstitutional but it discloses how, rather than moving with times, despite such decisions, the Respondents have regressively taken the clock back," the plea stated..The petitioner added that she had written to the authorities highlighting these concerns but only received vague replies. Therefore, she urged the Court to either declare the challenged notification/ advertisement unconstitutional or direct that it be modified suitably. The petitioner was represented by advocates Navdeep Singh, Jasneet Kaur, Apoorva Pushkarna and Roopan Atwal.