Supreme Court grants pensionary benefits to 32 women SSC officers of IAF

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre and the Indian Air Force to consider granting Permanent Commission PC to 32 retired women Short Service Commission SSC officers based on their suitability with the purpose of giving them pensionary benefitsA bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices Hima Kohli and J B Pardiwala however refused to order their reinstatement on the ground that they were released from service way back between 2006 and 2009Reinstatement cannot be a viable option keeping in mind the requirement related to exigencies of serving the nation it said in the orderThe bench said the women IAF officers if found eligible by the IAF for grant of permanent commission will be entitled to grant of onetime pensionary benefit from the date when they would have completed 20 years in service if it had continuedThe CJI appreciated the IAF for taking a fair approach and told senior lawyer R Balasubramanian appearing for the Centre and the Air Force to convey the appreciation to the IAF chief and the governmentWhile granting relief to the former women IAF SSC officers the bench said they had joined the services during 19931998 under the legitimate expectation in pursuance of the policy decision that they will be considered for grant of permanent commission after five yearsHowever instead of being considered for the permanent service commission they were granted extensions of six and four years successively and before being released from service finally during 2006 to 2009Also ReadElgar case Actor Suhasini Mulay stands as surety for activist Gautam NavlakhaThese women SSC officers had the legitimate expectation of being granted an opportunity to claim permanent commission in terms of prevailing policy it saidWe are of the view that these women SSC officers be considered for grant of pensionary benefits the bench said while exercising its extraordinary power under article 142 of the Constitution for doing complete justice in any matter pending before itThe bench said the IAF would examine the suitability of these retired officers and consider granting pensionary benefits once they are found eligible for grant of permanent commission as per the HR Human Resources policyThe cases of the appellants will be evaluated on the basis of the HR Policy of November 2010 the court saidIt however made clear that these officers shall not be entitled to arrears of salary Arrears of pension will be given with effect from the date when the officers will be completing 20 years of deemed services it saidThe bench meanwhile asked the IAF to consider the similar plea of two widow officers sympatheticallyIn a landmark verdict on February 17 2020 the top court had directed that women officers in the Army be granted permanent commission rejecting the Centres stand on their physiological limitations as being based on sex stereotypes and gender discrimination against womenThe apex court had directed that within three months all serving SSC women officers have to be considered for permanent commission irrespective of them having completed 14 years or as the case may be 20 years of serviceThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever