Ministry of Defence has issued an order for grant of Permanent Commission to women officers within the Army
In a landmark judgement, the apex court in February had directed that each one serving women officers recruited under the Short Service Commission (SSC) scheme will need to be considered for Permanent Commission
Army Spokesperson Col Aman Anand said the govt order paved the way for empowering of girls officers to shoulder “larger roles” within the Army.
“The order specifies grant of permanent commission to Short Service Commissioned (SSC) women officers altogether 10 streams of the Indian Army,” he said.
Col Anand said the ten streams where permanent commission of girls officers are being made available include army air defence, signals, engineers, army aviation, electronics and mechanical engineers, army service corps and intelligence corps
At present, the military offers permanent commission to women officers in two branches — judge advocate general (JAG) and education
“Their selection board are going to be scheduled as soon as all affected SSC women officers exercise their option and complete requisite documentation,” the military spokesperson said.
Under SSC, women officers are initially taken for a period of 5 years, which is extendable up to 14 years. Permanent commissioning will allow them to serve till the age of retirement
The Army recruits women officers under SSC for streams like air defence, engineering, signals and services and that they can serve to a maximum of 14 years
Last year, the defence ministry had taken an in-principle decision to permit permanent commissioning of girls in streams like signals, engineering, army aviation, army air defence and electronics and mechanical
It was decided that the SSC women officers are going to be considered for grant of permanent commission supported the supply of vacancies and subject to willingness, suitability, performance, medical fitness and competitive merit of the aspirants
The three services have allowed permanent recruitment of girls in select streams including medical, education, legal, signals, logistics and engineering
The women officers recruited through the SSC within the IAF have the choice of seeking permanent commission altogether streams except the flying branch.