Women Army Officers can now get command posts: Supreme Court

New Delhi : Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the women Army officers can get the command positions on par with the male officers, claiming that the Centre's argument against it is "discriminatory", "disturbing," and based on stereotype.

The new judgment will be implemented within three months from now.

Post three months, the women will be allowed a promotion to the rank of Colonel and above based on merit, like their male counterparts. 

A Colonel is free to make independent decisions and heads a battalion of approximately 850 men. A woman officer who is successful in this position could technically rise to the highest ranks of the Army though, at the moment, women officers will not be inducted into the combat arms such as the infantry, artillery or armoured corps.

Adding to the judgement, the Supreme Court said that women who have served more than 14 years in the Army can get a permanent commission. The court commented that there was a "fundamental fallacy" in the centre's policy of considering only women with less than 14 years for permanent commission.

The apex body slammed Centre and made it clear that there cannot be a discrimination between men and women. It also rejected the physiological claims made from the Center's side.

"To cast aspersions on gender is an affront to their dignity and to the country. Time has come that women officers are not adjunct to their male counterparts," said the court.

"Physiological features of women have no link to their rights. The mindset must change," said Justices DY Chandrachud and Ajay Rastogi in their landmark ruling.