The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to list next week a plea challenging the Agnipath recruitment scheme to the Armed Forces. In an oral mentioning made before a Vacation Bench led by Justice Indira Banerjee, advocate Kumud Lata Das, appearing for 31 Air Force aspirants, said the scheme should not be made applicable for those who are already undergoing the selection process.
The petitioners are awaiting their enrolment as Airmen in the IAF in Group 'X' Trades (Except Education Instructor) and Group 'Y' (Except Auto Tech, IAF(P), IAF(S) and Musician Trades) for Intake 02/21 conducted by the Central Airmen Selection Board (CASB).
The advertisement for these posts was published in December 2019. The online forms were invited in January 2020. The provisional list of candidates was published in May 2021. Though the petitioners were shortlisted for selection, the recruitment did not take place due to administrative reasons. However, the government had announced the Agnipath scheme, which reduces the tenure from 20 years to four, on June 14.
The petitioners argued that their recruitment should be done in accordance with the pre-Agnipath mechanism. They said they were not responsible or made to suffer for the delay on the part of the authorities.
‘Serious injury’
Earlier in June, days after the announcement of the Agnipath scheme, advocate M.L. Sharma had challenged the scheme, saying it would cause "serious injury" to citizens, the institution of the Armed Forces and the country as a whole.
Mr. Sharma had urged the Supreme Court to declare the scheme notification issued by the Ministry of Defence on June 14 as "illegal, unconstitutional and ultra vires" the Constitution.
"On June 14, contra to the constitutional provisions, without having approval in Parliament and without any gazette notification, the respondent [the government] quashed century-old Army selection process and imposed Agnipath scheme for recruitment in all three Armed Forces divisions and declared to start it from June 24, 2022," the petition had said.
Mr. Sharma had contended that the Armed Forces cannot discriminate with a policy which drops 75% of those inducted after a period of four years' service without even pension.
"After four years, out of 100% selected candidates for permanent commission in the Army, only 25% will be continued and the rest 75% will be retired. During the four years, they will be paid salary and perks. But after four years, these denied candidates will get no pension, etc," Mr. Sharma had argued.
The petition had said permanent commission meant service till retirement. Mr. Sharma had claimed that the protests and violence, which followed the announcement of the scheme, were by a large section of the youth who were staring at a "dark future" and who were against seeing soldiering as a "contract job".
