Karnataka: Amidst Corona Virus scare government instruct schools to declare holidays till June
All students of Grade 1-6 to be promoted to next grade without exams
Bengaluru: The Karnataka State Government on Friday issued orders instructing schools across the state to declare summer vacations from Saturday March 14. The orders also state that all the students in grade 1-6 be declared pass for the academic year and their exams be called off immediately.
The circular issued by the Department of Public Instructions further stated that the summer vacations be immediately declared across the state and the schools can re-open for the next academic year only in June this year.
All the students in Grade 1-6 should be promoted to next grade without writing the exams while the students of grade 7-10 will write the exams on scheduled dates but the school will remain closed for study leaves and the students should be asked to appear for exams directly on the exam dates.
The move was prompted by the Corona Virus scare in the state, as the state reported India’s first death due to Corona Virus in Kalaburagi District.
The Department of College Education has issued a circular declaring holiday for all government, aided and unaided colleges from March 14-28.
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SC grants pensionary benefits to women officers denied permanent commission
New Delhi (PTI): In a significant verdict, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that women Short Service Commission (SSC) officers in the Army, Navy, and Air Force, who were denied Permanent Commission due to arbitrary assessment, are entitled to full pensionary benefits.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and N Kotiswar Singh held that the officers would be "deemed" to have completed the minimum qualifying service of 20 years required for a pension, even if they were released from service earlier.
The judgment came on a batch of petitions, including those filed by Wing Commander Sucheta Edan and others, challenging the denial of Permanent Commission (PC) based on policy changes in 2019 and previous Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) rulings.
Reading the operative parts of the judgment, the CJI said the Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs) for women officers were often graded "casually" under the assumption that they would not be eligible for career progression or PC.
“The ACRs were written with the presumption that they would not undergo career progression. This adversely affected their overall merit,” the CJI said.
The bench separately dealt with the denial of PC to SSC women officers of the Air Force, Navy and Army.
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Regarding the Air Force, the bench found that the "Service Length Criteria" and "Minimum Performance Criteria" introduced in 2019 were implemented in haste, denying officers a reasonable opportunity to meet them.
Using its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, which empowers the top court to pass any orders to do complete justice, the bench said, as a one-time measure, all SSC officers considered for PC in selection boards held in 2019, 2020, and 2021, including those released in 2021, will be deemed to have completed 20 years of qualifying service.
It said the pension will be fixed based on this 20-year deemed service, effective from November 1, 2025.
The court, however, declined to order reinstatement, citing "operational effectiveness", but said that this could not be a ground to deny financial benefits.
Dealing with issues pertaining to the Army and Navy, it found similar flaws in their assessment models and said the failure to disclose evaluation criteria adversely impacted these officers.
The court rejected the plea for notional time-scale promotions to the rank of Wing Commander for those not in active service.
The detailed judgement is awaited.
Earlier, the Centre had defended its policy, saying that the Army’s processes were gender-neutral and that "elimination is part of a policy to keep the forces young."
