The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to respond to a petition by eight women applicants for the Territorial Army seeking to publish the final merit list for the Territorial Army Commission - 2019.
The Territorial Army is an organisation of volunteers who receive military training in order to be mobilised for the country’s defence in case of an emergency.
A Bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Navin Chawla also issued notices to the Chief of the Army Staff, Additional Director General of Recruiting and Territorial Army to respond to the petition and listed the matter for further hearing on December 15.
The plea filed by eight women applicants has challenged the “illegal action and arbitrariness of the respondents (authorities) whereby the respondents have selected candidates without publication of the final result”.
“In the present case, the illicit and discriminatory act of not publishing merit list/ result by the respondents has been done in order to camouflage the male chauvinist approach of the respondents towards the female candidates and to keep them away from the organisation,” the petition stated.
The petitioners, represented by senior advocate Sanjoy Ghose, sought direction to the authorities to consider their representations for publishing the result.
The plea stated that the female candidates had been invited to join Territorial Army for the first time in history in 2019 after the Delhi High Court’s landmark judgment that removed the restriction on enrolment of women in the force.
