The Supreme Court slammed the defence services for allotting a mere 10 per cent reservation to recruit women in the Army Dental Corps. Calling the move discriminatory, the court held that it was in contravention of Article 15 of the constitution, denying women their fundamental rights.
The Army selects candidates clearing the National Eligibility and Entrance Test for Masters in Dental Sciences (NEET-MDS). Qualified male NEET candidates who have applied for ADC and scored up to rank 2394 are selected as per the ADC provision as opposed to only up to rank 235 for women rank holders,
The matter came under Supreme Court’s scanner after Dr Satbir Kaur, a dental surgeon from Punjab applied for Short Services Commission in the ADC. Kaur moved the High Court alleging the provision of the ADC reserving 27 seats for men and only 3 for women, out of a total of 30 seats.
Media reports quoted sources saying the decision was internally made by the Armed Forces Medical Services head, and not passed by the Centre. The policy, discriminatory at its core, guarantees 90 per cent of seats to men and was gender-neutral until this year, the petitioner pointed out.
The apex court observed that women candidates, '10 times more meritorious' were rejected, and denied of competing equally with men. It ordered to conduct interviews of the left-out women candidates who had petitioned the HC. Recruitments that permit the admission of both males and females cannot be encumbered with reservation for men, which is anyway not permissible under Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution of India, Kaur contested.
