The Delhi High Court has asked the central government to respond to a plea challenging the exclusion of women candidates from the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Naval Academy (INA), and Air Force Academy (AFA) through the Combined Defence Services (CDS) examination. Currently, women can apply only to the Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai.
A bench led by Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay termed the issue serious, noting that women officers are not getting permanent jobs in the Army. The matter will be heard next in November 2025.
The petition, filed by advocate Kush Kalra, contests the UPSC CDS-II 2025 notification issued on May 28, which restricts women candidates solely to OTA. Graduates from IMA, AFA, and INA receive permanent commission, while OTA offers only short service commission — a tenure of 10 years, extendable by four years. Training at IMA, AFA, and INA spans about 18 months, compared to OTA’s 49 weeks.
Kalra’s plea argues that this exclusion violates Articles 14, 16, and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution, citing the Supreme Court’s 2020 landmark ruling granting women equal rights to permanent commission and command postings, as well as the 2021 decision allowing women to sit for the NDA exam.
The petition questions why women cannot fully participate in CDS when they are already serving in combat-support and command roles, calling the policy discriminatory and lacking valid justification. While women are still not directly deployed in combat, the petitioner says restricting their entry to OTA limits career opportunities and undermines gender equality in the armed forces.
