YOGENDRA KUMAR SINGH Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

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

(2.) The instant batch of appeals arises from a long and unsettled chapter in the service jurisprudence of the Indian Navy. It has been instituted by a group of roughly 25 Short Service Commission Officers (SSCOs), the majority of whom are women seeking the grant of Permanent Commission (PC). At its core, this dispute does not concern mere instances of non-selection; rather, it calls for a detailed evaluation of the fairness and transparency of the process by which officers, after long years of service, were assessed for career permanence.

(3.) In brief, the Short Service Commission Women Officers (SSCWOs), together with certain similarly-placed male officers, approached the Armed Forces Tribunal, Principal Bench at New Delhi (AFT), seeking redressal after PC was not granted to them. By its judgement dtd. 27/9/2024 (Impugned Judgement) and orders dtd. 13/2/2025 and 6/3/2025 (Impugned Orders), the AFT allowed their Original Applications (OAs) and directed the Respondents to reconsider all SSCOs who had not been granted PC in the Selection Boards convened in December 2020 and September 2022. Such reconsideration was to be undertaken afresh, after duly notifying the assessees of the criteria, methodology, and parameters governing the assessment.