NEW DELHI, 17 March 2020, TON: The Indian Supreme Court held that officers of both genders had to be treated equally in granting permanent commission in the Navy. The Court said, noting that women officers can sail with same efficiency as male counterparts. A Bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud said, “There could not be gender discrimination in granting permanent commission to women officers citing psychological conditions, once the statutory bar for inducting women in the navy had been lifted. The bench highlighted, “Once the statutory bar was lifted to allow entry of women officers then male and female officers are to be treated equally in granting permanent commission. A Naval officer at Vizag said, “We will enable women navy officers to get permanent commission in ATC and Logistics and Education only.

The top court asked the Centre to comply with its order in three months. The navy had allowed females permanent commission from 2008 but they were inducted under short service commission (SSC) for only 10 years extendable upto four years. But after the Courts order, grant of permanent commission would entitles an officer to serve in the navy till he/she retires. Recently, the top court had delivered a similar judgment with regard to women officers in the Army.