Women officers to get Permanent Commission in 10 streams of Indian Army as Centre issues order

NEW DELHI: In a major development, the Ministry of Defence on Thursday (July 23, 2020) issued A formal sanction letter for grant of Permanent Commission to women officers in the Indian Army.

The Defence Ministry order specifies grant of Permanent Commission to Short Service Commissioned (SSC) Women Officers in 10 streams. The ten streams where the permanent commission of women officers have now been made available are - Army Air Defence (AAD), Signals, Engineers, Army Aviation, Electronics and Mechanic areal Engineers (EME), Army Service Corps (ASC), Army Ordnance Corps (AOC), and Intelligence Corps.

GRANT OF PERMANENT COMMISSION TO WOMEN OFFICERS IN INDIAN ARMY https://t.co/aGq2cyKeXM @DefenceMinIndia @rajnathsingh @RajnathSingh_in @IAF_MCC @drajaykumar_ias @indiannavy @adgpi @PIB_India @DRDO_India — ADG (M&C) DPR (@SpokespersonMoD) July 23, 2020

The Indian Army is committed to providing equal opportunities to all personnel including Women Officers to serve the nation, the Defence Ministry order said.

In a landmark judgement, the apex court had in February directed that all serving women officers recruited under the Short Service Commission (SSC) scheme will have to be considered for Permanent Commission.

The order paves the way for empowering women officers to shoulder larger roles in the organisation, Indian Army spokesperson Col Aman Anand said. "The order specifies grant of permanent commission to Short Service Commissioned (SSC) women officers in all 10 streams of the Indian Army," he said.

"Their selection board will be scheduled as soon as all affected SSC women officers exercise their option and complete requisite documentation," the Army spokesperson said.

At present, the Army offers a permanent commission to women officers in two branches - judge advocate general (JAG) and education. Under SSC, women officers are initially taken for a period of five years, which is extendable up to 14 years. Permanent commissioning will allow them to serve until the age of retirement.

The Army recruits women officers under SSC for streams like air defence, engineering, signals and services and they can serve up to a maximum of 14 years.

Last year, the Defence Ministry had taken an in-principle decision to allow permanent commissioning of women in streams like signals, engineering, army aviation, army air defence and electronics and mechanical.

It was decided that the SSC women officers will be considered for grant of permanent commission based on the availability of vacancies and subject to willingness, suitability, performance, medical fitness and competitive merit of the aspirants.

The three services have allowed permanent recruitment of women in select streams including medical, education, legal, signals, logistics and engineering. The women officers recruited through the SSC in the IAF have the option of seeking a permanent commission in all streams except the flying branch.

The Navy has allowed the permanent commission of women in a host of departments such as logistics, naval designing, air traffic control, engineering and legal. 

(With PTI Inputs)