Women now allowed to appear in NDA exams: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has ordered to allow women to appear in the National Defense Academy examination to be held on September 5.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court has ordered to allow women to appear in the National Defense Academy examination to be held on September 5. The Supreme Court stated, "the admissions will be subject to the final order of the court." At the same time, after telling this policy decision to the army, the court reprimanded the army for not allowing women to appear in the NDA exam. As reported by Hindustan Times, "The court says that this policy decision is based on 'gender discrimination'."
The court stated, "This is a mindset problem. You (the government) better change it... don't force us to pass orders. This policy decision is based on gender discrimination. We direct the respondents to take a constructive view of the matter in view of the judgement of this court." It added, "The endeavour is to persuade the Army to do things itself... We would prefer if the Army did somethings itself, rather than us passing orders."
The order was passed by a bench headed by Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy. They were hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the Centre’s policy of not permitting female candidates to appear for the NDA and Naval Academy Examination.
Justice Kaul stated, "You must begin with some tokenism. Don’t compel judicial intervention all the time! We, as an institution, must confess that we may not understand all intricate, technical aspects of your structure, you are better situated to appreciate that. But the broad principle of gender neutrality you must understand and adapt it in the backdrop of your peculiarities. Us passing blanket orders does not advance the cause."
