HC strikes down Colonial-era ordinance providing 100% reservation for women in military nursing jobs
Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has struck down a provision in the Indian Military Nursing Services Ordinance, 1943 which provided 100 per cent reservation for women in the cadre of 'nursing officers'.
While allowing a petition filed in 2011 challenging the British-era law, the HC in its judgment on January 5, 2024 said, "The expression 'if woman' found in Section 6 of the Indian Military Nursing Services Ordinance, 1943 is struck down as unconstitutional.'' The HC however clarified that appointments already made under the 1943 ordinance over the decades are not void.
''Such an interpretation will have far-reaching, undesirable consequences and unsettle many things that have settled long back,'' it said.
The 1943 ordinance providing 100 per cent reservation was created to tide over the emergency situation of the World War II by the British Crown ruling India, the petitioners, Sanjay M Peerapur, Shivappa Maranabasari and Karnataka Nurses Association submitted before the bench of Justice Anant Ramanath Hegde.
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Sanjay and Shivappa had been denied the chance to participate in the 2010 recruitment of nursing officers which they had challenged before the high court.
The 1943 ordinance was adapted under The adaptation of laws, Orders 1950 by the President after independence.
The HC however said that "The law adapted under Article 372(2) of the Constitution of India, cannot be equated with the law enacted by the Parliament under Article 33 of the Constitution of India." The HC said that though Parliament has special powers, this ordinance was not passed by the Indian Parliament.
''Whether the ordinance, 1943 is promulgated by Parliament? The answer is 'No','' the HC said, adding that the provision was unconstitutional.
''This court is of the view that exclusive reservation conferred on women while recruiting ''nursing officers'' under ordinance, 1943 does violate the rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 16(2), and 21 of the Constitution of India as the classification,'' the judgment says.
Partly allowing the petition (while rejecting the plea that the 2010 recruitment process be quashed), the HC said, ''The underlying philosophy of reservation is to accommodate and include, but not to exclude. However, if such an accommodation which is termed as a reservation, becomes exclusive and hundred per cent, without justifiable grounds, then such exclusive reservation ceases to be a reservation in its true sense and it amounts to an exclusion which is not envisaged under the Constitution at all.''
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Three company directors held in Rs 100-crore investment fraud in Kochi
Kochi (Kerala) (PTI): Police on Sunday arrested three directors of a firm accused of cheating hundreds of investors of over Rs 100 crore through a fake investment scheme linked to agricultural tourism here, officials said.
The accused were identified as Muraleedharan, Ashik Murali and Akhil Murali, all natives of Thrissur.
The arrests were made by the Kalamassery police in connection with a fraud involving ATCOS (Agri Tourism Cooperative Society), a firm headquartered at Pathadipalam here.
Police said the company had promised high returns by collecting investments from the public in the agricultural tourism sector, but allegedly cheated hundreds of people and fled with the money.
ATCOS was registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act and operated 13 branches across various districts in Kerala, besides a branch in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, officials said.
When investors failed to receive their promised returns or the invested amount, complaints were filed with the police.
Officials said around 54 cases have been registered against the firm in 32 police stations across the state, including 29 cases at the Kalamassery police station alone.
Following instructions from Kochi City Police Commissioner K S Mahesh Kumar, a special investigation team was formed under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Shehensha and Thrikkakara ACP Manoj Kumar.
The team traced the accused to an apartment in Amala Nagar in Thrissur, where they had been hiding after secretly renting the flat, officials said.
The bank accounts of the accused have been frozen, and steps have been initiated to trace their assets, officials said.
Police also conducted a raid at the company’s office at Pathadipalam and seized several documents related to the case.
The accused were produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kalamassery, which remanded them to judicial custody and sent them to Kakkanad jail.
Police said they would seek the custody of the accused for further interrogation as the investigation continues.
