SC uses plenary powers to allow a woman Army officer’s plea for permanent commission

Supreme Court grants permanent commission to woman Army officer, correcting exclusion error, ensuring fairness and justice for all.

The Supreme Court on Monday (December 9, 2024) exercised its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to grant permanent commission to a woman Army officer with a distinguished service record who was wrongly excluded from the consideration when other similarly placed officers were given the benefit.

A Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan, while illustrating, observed that thoughts on conditions of service and job perquisites would be last in the minds of valiant Indian soldiers bravely guarding the frontiers at Siachen or in other difficult terrains.

“Will it be fair to tell them that they will not be given relief even if they are similarly situated, since the judgment they seek to rely on was passed in the case of certain applicants alone who moved the court? We think that would be a very unfair scenario,” Justice Viswanathan, who authored the judgment, observed.

It said that accepting the stand of the respondents in this case would result in the apex court putting its imprimatur on an “unreasonable stand” adopted by the authorities.

The apex court delivered its verdict on an appeal filed by a woman officer, who is posted as Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Dental Corps at Agra, challenging a January 2022 order of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) Regional Bench, Lucknow.

“We direct that the appellant’s case be taken up for grant of permanent commission and she be extended the benefit of permanent commission with effect from the same date the similarly situated persons who obtained benefits pursuant to the judgment dated January 22, 2014... of the Principal Bench of the AFT,” the Bench directed.