The court said the decision betrayed a gender-biased reading of the recruitment rules, and ordered the immediate appointment of a petitioner, who had been left out unfairly.
A Division Bench of Justice C Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla, in its August 25 ruling, stressed that the days of making distinctions between men and women in matters of entry into the armed forces were long over.
“We are, mercifully, no longer in those times, in which discrimination could be made between male and female candidates so far as entry into the armed forces, or, for that matter, anywhere else, is concerned,” the Bench observed.
The dispute arose after Archana, a candidate who ranked seventh in the women’s merit list, approached the court seeking appointment against unfilled vacancies.
While the UPSC’s May 17, 2023, notification for NDA-II had earmarked two of the 92 Air Force ‘Flying’ posts for women, the government later left 20 of the 90 unreserved seats vacant, citing the absence of qualified male candidates.
The Bench rejected this interpretation, clarifying that the 90 posts were open to both men and women and not reserved for men alone. “The remaining vacancies were not earmarked either for female or male candidates, but were open to everyone,” the order read.
The court ruled that Archana, having cleared the exam and medical requirements, could not be denied her rightful place. It directed the Centre to appoint her immediately to one of the vacant seats, with full parity in seniority and service benefits alongside the 72 other recruits already selected.
It also underscored that gender neutrality was no longer optional, but a constitutional mandate. “The distinction between male and female has, in the present time, been reduced to nothing more than a chance chromosomal circumstance, and ascribing, to it, any greater relevance would be illogical as well as anachronistic. It is time, to adopt a somewhat pedestrian adage, that one woke up and smelt the coffee,” it remarked.