The top court was hearing a plea by Kush Kalra, which was filed last year, seeking the induction of women in the NDA….reports Asian Lite News
The Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that the Indian Navy has decided to induct women cadets into three branches or cadres through the National Defence Academy (NDA).
The Indian Navy, in an affidavit, said: “Given the intent of the interim directions from the court, Navy has decided to induct women into three Branches/Cadres through NDA. There are total of four Branches and four Cadres in the Navy which are further sub-divided into 23 subspecialisations.”
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M.M. Sundresh was informed that all cadets inducted through the UPSC examination post 10+2 into the NDA are trained towards executive (general service) which is not open for induction of women officers.
“In fact, Navy does not have any direct induction of men and women through NDA (UPSC) entry post 10+2 for the Branches! Cadres! Specialisations which are open for induction of women,” added the affidavit.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Centre, submitted that the Navy does not have direct induction of women or men through the NDA. She added however, against the backdrop of Supreme Court direction to give Permanent Commission (PC) to women officers in services, they are allowed entry.
The affidavit added that given the intent of directions by the Supreme Court, Navy decided to have intake of women as PC officers through UPSC examinations into logistics, the Naval Armament Inspectorate (NAI) and the education branch.
“It is important to note that this would be the first instance (whether for male or female) that a cadet will be trained at NDA for direct induction as PC officer into Education Branch, Logistics and NAI Cadres. There are presently no PC male officers being directly inducted into these branches through NDA,” added the affidavit.
The top court noted Centre’s submission that on an average, 20 to 25 women are already being inducted through IN every six months for all the branches/cadres, which are open for their induction
“That at NDA, there will be an economy of training effort with total induction of 19 women cadets per term {after three years the total number will be 114 women cadets (19 women x 2 batches/years x 3 years)}. Upon passing out from NDA, all cadets who are inducted as Naval cadets report at Indian Naval Academy for Navy specific training of 6-12 months (depending on Branches/Cadres/ Specialisations). So effectively, these women cadet trainees are also being routed through IN,” added the affidavit.
The Centre’s response came after senior advocate Chinmoy Pradip Sharma and advocate Mohit Paul complained against a fresh notification issued by the Union Public Services Commission for the NDA-I exam in 2022, which limited the intake of women cadets to just 19.
The top court was hearing a plea by Kush Kalra, which was filed last year, seeking the induction of women in the NDA. In August, 2021, the apex court allowed women to appear in entrance tests conducted for the NDA.