SC strikes down Army’s quota policy for JAG corps

The Supreme Court on Monday struck down the Indian Army's policy of reserving six out of nine Judge Advocate General (JAG) branch vacancies for men and only three for women, calling it “arbitrary”, unconstitutional and contrary to the principle of gender neutrality.

- Utkarsh Anand

Inan important ruling reinforcing gender equality in the armed forces, a two judge bench held that the Army and the Centre could not impose a ceiling on the number of women in the JAG cadre once they had been permitted entry under Section 12 of the Army Act, 1950.

“No nation can be secure when half of its population (i.e., its women force) is held back,” emphasised the bench, adding that the “true meaning” of gender neutrality is that all meritorious candidates, irrespective of gender, must be selected.

The ruling came on petitions filed by two women candidates who had ranked fourth and fifth overall but were denied selection because of the gender-based allocation of seats in the 2023 JAG recruitment.

The bench pointed out that in this case, one petitioner , Arshnoor Kaur, had secured 447 marks, higher than the 433 scored by a male candidate ranked third in the men’s list, yet she was excluded. The court directed her induction in the next available training course, noting that her exclusion amounted to “indirect discrimination” in violation of Articles 14 (equality), 15 (no discrimination), and 16 (equality of opportunity) of the Constitution.