Grant permanent commission to women or we will: Supreme Court to Indian Coast Guard

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, February 26

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to ensure that women were granted permanent commission in the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), saying women can’t be left out in 2024.

Set up fresh selection board, Navy told

New Delhi: Coming to the rescue of a retired woman naval officer, Commodore Seema Chaudhary, the SC on Monday directed the Navy to set up a fresh selection board to consider her eligibility for granting permanent service commission. PTI

“All these functionality arguments do not hold water in the year 2024. Women can’t be left out. Either you do it or we will. So, take a look at that,” a three-judge Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud told Attorney General R Venkataramani after the Centre submitted that there were functional differences in the Indian Coast Guard because of which women officers can’t be given permanent commission unlike the Army, Navy and Air Force.

“It may be completely different but you must have women,” the Bench said while hearing a woman Short Service Appointment (SSA) woman Indian Coast Guard (ICG) officer Priyanka Tyagi’s petition seeking permanent commission.

As Venkataramani said a board had been set up by the ICG to look into the issues, the Bench said, “You must have women on board.”

The Bench — which had on February 22 said that “we will see that Justice is done for women in ICG” — posted the matter for further hearing on Friday. “You speak of ‘nari shakti’ (woman power). Now show it here. You are in the deep end of the sea in this matter. You must come up with a policy which treats women fairly,” the Bench had earlier said, adding the ICG must come up with a gender-neutral policy which treated women “fairly”.

It had sought to know why the ICG was not granting permanent commission to its women officers when the Navy was. “Why are you being so patriarchal? You do not want to see the face of women in the Coast Guard?” the Bench had asked Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee, who represented the ICG.

Petitioner Priyanka Tyagi — who was appointed as Assistant Commandant (General Duty-Women) in 2009 — got promoted to the post of Deputy Commandant (GD) in 2015 and went on to become a Commandant (JG) in 2021.

In 2021, she made a request for permanent absorption, which was returned without any action a year later. The Ministry of Defence said its letter dated February 25, 2019, regarding grant of permanent absorption to women officers did not apply to the ICG. In December 2023, Tyagi was released from service after the Delhi High Court refused her interim relief, saying if she won the legal battle, she could be reinstated.

In a landmark verdict, the top court had on February 17, 2020, ordered that Women Short Service Commission officers be granted permanent commission. A Bench, led by Justice Chandrachud, had rejected the Centre’s stand of their physiological limitations as being based on “sex stereotypes” and “gender discrimination against women”.

Noting that women officers can sail with same efficiency as male counterparts, the Supreme Court had on March 17, 2020, held that officers of both genders had to be treated equally in granting permanent commission in the Navy.