NEW DELHI: In what will benefit hundreds of women short service commission officers, Supreme Court on Tuesday said arbitrariness in assessment of their ACRs, written at a time when they were ineligible for permanent commission (PC), resulted in unfair denial of PC and ordered the armed forces to pay full pension to them.Six years after the landmark judgment making women short service commission officers (WSSCOs) eligible for PC, a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and N K Singh said, “ACRs of appellant-SSCWOs were authored with the assumption that they would never undergo any substantive career progression, owing to their ineligibility for PC for the initial 10 years of service.” Watch Supreme Court Raps Forces Over Gender Bias, Orders Justice For Women Officers In Historic Ruling Writing separate judgments for WSSCOs in Army, Navy and IAF, CJI Kant said, “Since the avenue for PC was opened to them much later, this presumption undermined the entire assessment of their ‘suitability’ for any career progression undertaken prior to that and, thus, adversely affected their overall merit in the consideration for PC. Israel Iran WarUS-Israel-Iran War News Live Updates: Amazon Web Services ‘disrupted’ following drone attack in Bahrain; Saudi, UAE mull joining Iran war’They are talking sense’: Trump says Iran ‘agreed to not have nuclear weapon'”We find that denial of PC to WSSCOs was not merely the outcome of individual assessments, but the consequence of a systemic framework rooted in assumptions that entrenched disadvantages in career progression.” The top court bench made the comment after accepting majority of the submissions by amicus curiae and senior advocate Rekha Palli.Invoking its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the SC said the women SSCOs who have approached the apex court and who have been released from service during pendency of the litigation, “shall be deemed to have completed substantive qualifying service of 20 years and shall be entitled to pension and all consequential benefits, except arrears of pay, on the basis that they have completed such minimum service”.”The pension shall be fixed on the basis of the date of completion of deemed service of 20 years, but arrears thereof, if any, shall be paid to the WSSCOs only with effect from Jan 1, 2025,” the top court said but excluded women SSCOs in Judge Advocate General and Army Engineering Corps (AEC) from this benefit saying they were eligible for PC since 2010.The bench further directed, “All WSSCOs who are continuing in service by virtue of SC orders dated May 9 and May 19 last year, and who have fulfilled the minimum cut-off grade of 60% in the regular selection boards held in 2020 and 2021, shall be entitled to permanent commission, subject to their meeting the medical criteria and on receiving disciplinary and vigilance clearance.”End of ArticleFollow Us On Social MediaVideosIndia Built A Naval Network But Missed The Red Sea’s Key ChokepointLPG Ships Pine Gas And Jag Vasant Safely Cross Hormuz, Crew Hails Indian NavyIran Threats Undermine 10 Million Indian Lives, Israel’s ‘Great Plans With India’: Envoy AzarVessels ‘Going Dark’ In EEZ: Navy Chief Tripathi On ‘Emerging Flash Points’ In Indo-PacificAre Trump’s Iran Announcements Driven By Market Manipulation?; Trump Calls Modi To Discuss Iran WarIAF’s Biggest Aircraft Deal Progress To Replace Aging Fleet , C-130J, C-390 And A400M In RaceUS President Trump Dials PM Modi Amid West Asia Conflict, Discusses Strait Of HormuzIndia’s Rafale Marine Deal May Move Faster Than Planned With Trainer Arrival: Reports’India Indispensable To Asia’: Donald Trump’s War Envoy Colby Signals US Shift Amid West Asia CrisisGovt Calls All-Party Meeting To Discuss West Asia Conflict Amid Opposition Uproar123PhotostoriesInside the love lives of ‘The Brady Bunch’ cast: From on-screen family to real-life romancesExpert-approved 10 food combinations offering 12-30 g protein per servingExclusive – ‘The 50’ Winner Shiv Thakare opens up about his journey, Prince sacrificing his Ticket To Finale for him and his team distracting Faisu during finale taskStop Frying: Chef Sanjeev Kapoor shares 3 ways to prepare sweet potato in an air fryer6 kg vs 10 kg washing machine: How many clothes can your machine handle at a timeWhy women need to think about calcium much earlier than they usually doChennai airport phase-2 international terminal to open by December, set to handle 35 million passengers annually10 foods that were once illegal around the world and why they were bannedFrom gold to copper: 5 smart metal investments to make this NavratriRanveer Singh’s Car Collection: Top 5 cars owned by the actor123Hot PicksTrain ticket refund ruleFortnite layoffsSonia GandhiGold rate todayIncome Tax CalculatorPublic holidays March 2026Bank Holidays MarchTop Trending82nd Airborne DivisionFortnite layoffsRCB soldSonia GandhiIRCTC ticket bookingFrances TiafoeHarish RanaTrump Modi callToronto airport heistBihar Board Science Topper
NEW DELHI: In what will benefit hundreds of women short service commission officers, Supreme Court on Tuesday said arbitrariness in assessment of their ACRs, written at a time when they were ineligible for permanent commission (PC), resulted in unfair denial of PC and ordered the armed forces to pay full pension to them.Six years after the landmark judgment making women short service commission officers (WSSCOs) eligible for PC, a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and N K Singh said, “ACRs of appellant-SSCWOs were authored with the assumption that they would never undergo any substantive career progression, owing to their ineligibility for PC for the initial 10 years of service.”
Writing separate judgments for WSSCOs in Army, Navy and IAF, CJI Kant said, “Since the avenue for PC was opened to them much later, this presumption undermined the entire assessment of their ‘suitability’ for any career progression undertaken prior to that and, thus, adversely affected their overall merit in the consideration for PC. “We find that denial of PC to WSSCOs was not merely the outcome of individual assessments, but the consequence of a systemic framework rooted in assumptions that entrenched disadvantages in career progression.” The top court bench made the comment after accepting majority of the submissions by amicus curiae and senior advocate Rekha Palli.Invoking its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, the SC said the women SSCOs who have approached the apex court and who have been released from service during pendency of the litigation, “shall be deemed to have completed substantive qualifying service of 20 years and shall be entitled to pension and all consequential benefits, except arrears of pay, on the basis that they have completed such minimum service”.“The pension shall be fixed on the basis of the date of completion of deemed service of 20 years, but arrears thereof, if any, shall be paid to the WSSCOs only with effect from Jan 1, 2025,” the top court said but excluded women SSCOs in Judge Advocate General and Army Engineering Corps (AEC) from this benefit saying they were eligible for PC since 2010.The bench further directed, “All WSSCOs who are continuing in service by virtue of SC orders dated May 9 and May 19 last year, and who have fulfilled the minimum cut-off grade of 60% in the regular selection boards held in 2020 and 2021, shall be entitled to permanent commission, subject to their meeting the medical criteria and on receiving disciplinary and vigilance clearance.”