NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the Centre to explain why, despite its orders, the induction of women candidates in the National Defence Academy (NDA) for 2022 has been restricted to 19, the same as last year.
A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul asked the Central government to place figures on record about the number of candidates including women who have appeared in the NDA examination 2021, for entry to Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) and Rashtriya Military School (RMS).
The court told Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, that the government will have to explain why the figure of 19 women has been fixed for 2022 as per the notification issued by UPSC.
“The figure is the same for the 2021 test. Last year, you said it was due to infrastructure problems that the intake of women will be less. Now, again for 2022, you have proposed to take the same number of women candidates. Why have you fixed this figure? You have to explain this. Nineteen seats cannot be for all times to come. It was only an ad hoc measure,” the bench said and asked the Centre to file an affidavit, while slating the hearing for March 6.
Senior advocate Chinmoy Pradip Sharma, appearing for petitioner Kush Kalra, said they have filed an additional affidavit stating that on November 14, 2021, the NDA exam was held and 8,009 candidates qualified for the Service Selection Board test as also medical tests, out of which 1,002 candidates were women and 7,007 men.
ASG Bhati said that induction of of female candidates in NDA and other institutions do not only depend on infrastructure, but also on other factors including the requirement of defence forces. “The court may allow us some time to file a detailed affidavit and we will try to put forth the reasons behind the number of intake of women candidates,” she said.