LT. COL. NITISHA & ORS. versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

LT. COL. NITISHA & ORS. versus UNION OF INDIA & ORS.

The Army’s evaluation procedure as implemented for the Special No.5 Selection Board produced indirect and systemic discrimination against women WSSCOs by (i) benchmarking their scores against the lowest selected male officer (an arbitrary and irrational step in the circumstances), (ii) restricting ACR consideration to the 5th/10th year thereby excluding subsequent achievements, and (iii) applying SHAPE-1 medical criteria belatedly without regard to medical status at the time they should have been considered; accordingly all women who fulfilled the 60% cut-off in the Special No.5 Selection Board (Sept 2020) are to be granted PC subject to medical criteria applied at the time of their 5th...

Parties
Petitioner: Lt. Col. Nitisha & Ors.; Respondent: Union of India & Ors.
Jurisdiction
India
Judgment Date
25 March 2021
Procedural Posture
Writ Petition (civil) / Final Judgment and Disposition
Outcome
Writ petitions allowed in part
Legal Topics
Permanent Commission (pc), Short Service Commission (ssc), Indirect Discrimination, Systemic Discrimination, Annual Confidential Reports (acr) Evaluation, SHAPE 1 Medical Criteria, Benchmarking of Candidates, Remedial/directional Reliefs
Constitutional Law Administrative Law Military/armed Forces Law Employment Law Gender Equality Law Human Rights Law Permanent Commission (pc) Short Service Commission (ssc) +6 more

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Parties

Lt. Col. Nitisha & Ors.

Petitioner

Union of India & Ors.

Respondent

Procedural Posture

Writ Petition (civil) / Final Judgment and Disposition

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether the evaluation criteria and modalities adopted by the Army in implementing Babita Puniya disproportionately and indirectly discriminated against women WSSCOs
  2. 2 Whether benchmarking women candidates with the lowest meritorious male officer in corresponding batches was lawful and rational
  3. 3 Whether medical fitness standard SHAPE-1 could be applied belatedly to women being considered for PC and at what point in time the medical standard should be assessed

Ratio Decidendi

The Army’s evaluation procedure as implemented for the Special No.5 Selection Board produced indirect and systemic discrimination against women WSSCOs by (i) benchmarking their scores against the lowest selected male officer (an arbitrary and irrational step in the circumstances), (ii) restricting ACR consideration to the 5th/10th year thereby excluding subsequent achievements, and (iii) applying SHAPE-1 medical criteria belatedly without regard to medical status at the time they should have been considered; accordingly all women who fulfilled the 60% cut-off in the Special No.5 Selection Board (Sept 2020) are to be granted PC subject to medical criteria applied at the time of their 5th...

Court Disposition

Writ petitions allowed in part

Orders

  • The administrative requirement of benchmarking women SSC officers with the officers lowest in merit in the corresponding male batch is arbitrary and irrational and shall not be enforced while implementing Secretary, Ministry of Defence v. Babita Puniya
  • All women officers who fulfilled the 60% cut-off in the Special No.5 Selection Board held in September 2020 shall be entitled to grant of Permanent Commission subject to meeting medical criteria as explained and receiving disciplinary and vigilance clearance