Delhi High Court Issues Notice In Plea Alleging Gender Discrimination In Territorial Army Officers’ Recruitment

A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia issued notice and asked the government to file its reply to the petition filed by Kush Kalra which said that authorities continue to maintain the practice of reserving 12 to 18 vacancies for male candidates while allocating only one vacancy for female candidates in each successive recruitment cycle from 2022 to 2026.

The plea sought a direction to declare the practice adopted by the respondents of reserving a disproportionately higher number of vacancies for male candidates and restricting female candidates to a single vacancy in the Territorial Army officer recruitment as violative of the Constitution.

The plea contended that it was an attempt to negate the landmark judgment of 2018 wherein the High Court had allowed the entry of women into the Territorial Army and declared the then-prevailing practice of recruiting only male candidates as unconstitutional.

The petition said that in the judgment, it was held that the expression “any person” under Section 6 of the Territorial Army Act, 1948 includes both men and women.

“However, allowing women entry into the Territorial Army was only half a measure. The respondents, notwithstanding this court's declaration of law, continued to maintain a practice of reserving 12 to 18 vacancies for male candidates while allocating only 1 vacancy for female candidates in each successive recruitment cycle from 2022 to 2026. Such tokenism perpetuates the very constitutional wrong that this court sought to remedy,” it said.

The plea said it seeks full and effective implementation of the High Court’s 2018 judgment as authorities by reserving a single vacancy for women have not only violated the Constitution but also effectively tried to negate the court’s verdict.