Supreme Court allows women to appear for NDA exams

The Supreme Court on Wednesday passed an interim order allowing woman to appear for National Defence Academy (NDA) entrance exams. The apex court pulled up the Indian army for denying the opportunity to eligible women candidates to join NDA and called its “policy decision” gender discrimination.




The court has allowed woman candidates to take the exam slated for Sep 5 but their admissions will be subjected to the final orders of the court.

“Don’t do tokenism. Why do you need the judiciary to pass orders every time,” asked the division bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Hrishikesh Roy.

Taking note of the “continued gender discrimination” against women candidates in the army, the Court also said that while the Indian Navy and Air Force have already made provisions, the Army lags behind.

“You’re compelling the judiciary to keep on granting orders. It’s better that you (Army) structure it than inviting court orders….), said the apex court.

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The writ petition was filed by Kush Kalra who sought permission for women to sit for the NDA entrance exam. According to the petitioner, the eligible and willing female candidates are being denied the opportunity of entry to the National Defence Academy on the sole ground of their sex…and this act of discrimination is a dishonour committed by the respondents to the Constitutional values of equality (Article 14); Article 16 (equal opportunities in matters of public employment); Article 19 (freedom to practice a profession), and non-discrimination (Article 15) in the Constitution of India.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Centre, in its response, said women cannot claim violation of any fundamental right for being denied entry at the National Defence Academy or the Indian Naval Academy as the male cadets trained there do not have any automatic advantage in future career advancement prospects over the women whose only route of joining the Army is through short service commission