The Supreme Court on Wednesday passed interim order to allow women to take the admission exam to National Defence Academy(NDA) scheduled for September 5. The result would be subject to final adjudication of the petitions
A division bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy passed the interim order in a writ petition filed by Kush Kalra seeking permission for women candidates to appear for the NDA exam.
The UPSC is also directed to take out a suitable corrigendum notification in view of the aforesaid order and “give due publicity so that intent of the order is translated into effect”.
Court room exchange
“We have received the counter affidavit from the Union of India yesterday. In the counter affidavit, what they say is that it is purely a policy decision and should not be interfered with by the court and that because girls are not allowed to enter into NDA does not mean there is any difficulty in their progression or in their career”, Senior Advocate Chinmoy Pradip Sharma, for the petitioner, told the bench.
Justice Kaul inquired from Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, “Why are you continuing in this direction? Even after Justice Chandrachud’s judgment expanding the horizons and extending Permanent Commission in the Army to women? This is unfounded now! We are finding it absurd!”
“Will the Army only act when a judicial order is passed? Not otherwise? We will do that if that is what you want! This has been my impression right from the High Court that till a judgment is passed, the Army doesn’t believe in doing anything voluntarily!”, continued the judge.
When the ASG sought to submit that women have been conferred Permanent Commission in the Army, Justice Kaul commented, “No thanks to you! You kept on opposing it! And till orders were not passed, you didn’t do anything! The Navy and the Airforce are more forthcoming! The Army seems to have a bias to not implement!”