Punjab and Haryana High Court puts Centre on notice over 89% quota for men in IAF

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 25

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued a notice of motion to the Union of India among others on a petition filed in public interest challenging the action of issuing an advertisement for ground duty branches of the Indian Air Force reserving 89 per cent vacancies for men and 11 per cent for women.

The notice by the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhawalia and Justice Lapita Banerji came on a petition filed by Capt Sukhjit Pal Kaur Sanewal, a retired short commissioned officer of the Army.

She contended that “short, but very pertinent” point for adjudication before the Bench was whether the Union of India and other respondents could vide the advertisement reserve 89 per cent post for men in the service of short service commission in the ground duty branches of the IAF.

She contended that the policy allowed both men and women to apply for employment without discrimination. “Whether such 89 per cent reservation for males is in the teeth of Article 15 and 16 and also Article 14, besides being contrary to the law directly laid down in this regard by the constitutional courts?” she questioned.

“Though the Gregorian calendar reaches the summer of 2024, the respondents in an extremely regressive move have taken the clock decades back, without realising what violence their action would inflict to the constitutional values of our nation,” she said.

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