The Delhi High Court has strongly criticized the Centre for keeping 20 Indian Air Force (IAF) Flying Branch posts vacant, despite qualified women being available to fill them.
A Bench of Justice C Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla, ruling in Ms Archana v Union of India & Ors, held that the Union Public Service Commission’s (UPSC) NDA II 2023 notification—which earmarked two of 92 flying vacancies for women—did not mean the remaining 90 were reserved for men. Instead, the Court said those seats were open to all eligible candidates, male or female.
“The 90 vacancies notified… apart from the 2 vacancies earmarked for female candidates, cannot be regarded as earmarked for male candidates… They were open to female as well as male candidates,” the Court said, adding that the only condition was possession of a valid “fit to fly” certificate.
The order directed the government to appoint petitioner Archana, ranked seventh in the women’s merit list, to one of the 20 vacant posts and to grant her full service benefits, including seniority, at par with other selected candidates.
The Court underscored that gender discrimination in armed forces recruitment had no place in today’s era.
“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 is concerned,” the Bench observed, stressing the principle of gender neutrality upheld by the Supreme Court.
Advocates Sahil Mongia, Yash Yadav and Sanjana Samor represented the petitioner, while Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma and Central Government Standing Counsel Rohan Jaitley appeared for the Union of India.
