Centre defends permanent commission policy in Army as SC reserves verdict
New Delhi (PTI): The Centre on Thursday defended its policy on the grant of permanent commission to Short Service Commission women officers and said the apex court's verdicts on the aspect were being followed without discrimination.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and N Kotiswar Singh reserved its verdict on a batch of 84 officers of the Army.
The officers have challenged the denial of grant of permission commission.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre and the Army, submitted that the 2020 verdict in Babita Puniya case and 2021 verdict in Nitisha case had actually upheld the policy and whatever faults which were still there and pointed out by the court were eventually corrected.
Justice Kant told Bhati it did not mean that the Army had corrected its policy on permanent commission and whatever faults existed were removed post Nitisha verdict.
Concluding her arguments, Bhati said, “No process can satisfy everyone and there will always be heartburn.”
She said elimination was also part of policy to keep the forces young and it was equally applied to all without discrimination.
Senior advocates Maneka Guruswamy, V Mohana, Abhinav Mukherjee and Rekha Palli, appearing for the SSC officers, advanced counter submissions.
The bench said it would also hear similar pleas related to permanent commission from the Navy, followed by the Air Force and coast guard.
On September 24, the Centre denied any discrimination in granting permanent commission to SSC officers when compared with their male counterparts while assuring the top court that all parameters were being duly followed.
Bhati said uniform policy is followed for all in grant of permanent commission.
Countering the arguments of the women officers, who moved court, Bhati had said the annual confidential reports of those officers were actually gender neutral without an element of discrimination.
She had submitted that the methodology adopted is uniformly applicable to all officers.
"The aim of a confidential report is to have an objective assessment of an officer's competence, employability and potential as observed during the period covered by the report, primarily for organisational requirements," she had said.
Bhati said it was an impression sought to be created that there was discrimination but statistics since 1991 showed women officers were not discriminated against their male counterparts.
"In the Army, we have been following a very strict regime and there is no question of discrimination, as the selection board does not have the name of the officer before it. We are a professional army and do err sometime and AFT and courts have corrected us," she had said.
Dealing with the arguments of non-consideration of "criteria appointment" or difficult area posting in the ACR of women officers, Bhati had said such appointments were inconsequential and the officers were marked in average in the annual confidential reports.
Bhati elaborated that there were no marks or distinction of "criteria" or "non criteria" appointments for PC selection board and criteria appointments are specified for promotion to colonel, brigadier, major general and lieutenant general ranks.
She said below seven years of service, all confidential reports (CR) are non criteria reports and there are inherent checks available within the system for internal assessment of CRs to guard against subjectivity and bias assessment.
There are several aspects in the ACR which are considered at the time of grant of permanent commission. Criteria appointment is not the sole criteria which is considered, Bhati had submitted.
The women officers have contended that despite being posted in difficult areas and having participated in operations like Galwan, Balakot and the most recent Operation Sindoor, they were not considered for the PC.
A criteria appointment usually means an officer given command of a post in a difficult and hostile area or operation.
Bhati said the ratio of regular officers to the corresponding support staff through SSC against the desired ratio of 1:1.1 was very skewed.
"Over a period of time due to low subscription of Short Service Commission and low selection rates of in Service entries, the numbers in support cadre has decreased majorly and this deficiency had to be made up by recruiting more regular officers. However, organisational requirements and aspirations of officers dictate otherwise," she submitted.
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No unannounced load shedding in Kerala, outages due to overload, says Minister
Palakkad (PTI): Kerala Electricity Minister K Krishnankutty on Saturday said there was no unannounced load shedding in the state, attributing recent power interruptions to temporary overload caused by high consumption.
Clarifying concerns raised from various parts of the state, the minister said the disruptions are not deliberate but occur when demand peaks, particularly between 10 pm and 11 pm.
"It is not being done intentionally. Power consumption has risen sharply, and when there is excessive and indiscriminate usage, the system experiences overload, leading to natural supply interruptions," he told reporters here.
His remarks come amid complaints that several areas have been witnessing frequent power cuts, often lasting around 15 minutes and occurring multiple times during the night.
Krishnankutty said the state's power demand has crossed 6,195 MW, putting pressure on the supply system. He added that around 70 per cent of Kerala's electricity is procured from outside, and existing power banking arrangements have been exhausted.
"We have approached the Regulatory Commission seeking permission to purchase more power. However, this will come at a higher cost," he said.
The minister said the government is trying to avoid increasing electricity tariffs and urged consumers to exercise restraint in usage to help manage the situation.
Responding to opposition criticism over the ruling LDF's earlier claims of a decade without power cuts, he said the current situation is not unique to Kerala.
A power crisis is emerging across the country, he said, and sarcastically asked the Opposition to take note of the role of natural factors in this.
Krishnankutty expressed confidence that the situation would improve within two days, while cautioning that long-term energy security would depend on enhancing in-state power generation.
He also warned that future generations could face serious challenges if adequate electricity production capacity is not developed within Kerala.
