The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to explain why despite its orders, the intake of women candidates in the National Defence Academy (NDA) for the year 2022 has been restricted to 19, the figure the same as last year.
The apex court asked the Centre to place the figures on record about the total number of candidates, including women, who have appeared in the NDA examination 2021, for entrance tests for Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) and for Rashtriya Military School (RMS).
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh told Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, that the Government will have to explain why the figure of 19 women has been fixed for the year 2022 as per the notification issued by UPSC.
“The figure is the same as for the 2021 test. Last year, you said that it was due to infrastructure problems that the intake of women will be less. Now, again for the year 2022, you have proposed to take the same number of women candidates. Why have you fixed this figure? You have to explain this. 19 seats cannot be for all times to come. It was only an ad hoc measure,” the bench said.
The top court has given the Centre three weeks to file an affidavit and asked the parties to file their rejoinder in two weeks thereafter and listed the matter for further hearing on March 6. At the outset, senior advocate Chinmoy Pradip Sharma, appearing for petitioner Kush Kalra, said they have filed an additional affidavit stating that on November 14, 2021, the NDA exam was held and 8,009 candidates qualified for the Service Selection Board test as also medical tests, out of which 1,002 candidates were women and 7,007 men.
He said that as per the information made available in the advertisement issued by UPSC and by the Government, NDA will take in 400 cadets in the current NDA-II 2021 intake. “Of these, 208 candidates, including 10 women, will go to the Army. The Navy will take in 42 candidates, including 3 women, while the IAF will admit 120 candidates, of which 6 will be women. Thus, the total number of women to be inducted into the NDA in June 2022 is 19,” Sharma said, giving a detailed split of the number of women allowed in each branch of the forces.
ASG Bhati said that the intake of female candidates in the NDA and other institutions do not only depend on infrastructure but on several other reasons including the requirement of defence forces. “The court may allow us some time to file a detailed affidavit in the matter and we will try to put forth the reasons behind the number of intake of women candidates”, she said.
The bench said it understands that not all fields are open for women candidates in defence forces and there will not be an equal number of men and women as of now but it will take time.
