LT. COL. POOJA PAL Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Applications for intervention and impleadment are allowed, and the Applicants therein are directed to be impleaded as Intervenors.

(2.) The instant batch of appeals has been preferred by a group of roughly 73 Short Service Commission Officers (SSCOs) of the Indian Army, the vast majority of whom are women seeking the grant of Permanent Commission (PC). Their grievances centre on the fairness and reasonableness of the method adopted for their consideration, an issue that has repeatedly engaged Constitutional Courts and the relevant Tribunals over the last two decades.

(3.) To succinctly summarise the instant appeals, the Short Service Commission Women Officers (SSCWOs) approached the Armed Forces Tribunal, Principal Bench at New Delhi (AFT), praying for the grant of PC. However, vide judgements dtd. 3/7/2024 and 4/9/2024 (Impugned Judgements), the AFT dismissed their Original Applications (OAs), holding that there was no discrimination or bias against the SSCWOs and that the denial of PC was solely attributable to lower comparative merit. Notably, a few of their male counterparts, who were commissioned alongside them in September 2010 and March 2011, have also assailed the Impugned Judgements, aligning themselves with the women officers on certain common issues.