NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday said it will first hear the pleas directly challenging the Centre’s Agnipath scheme and then decide those concerning the recruitment processes for the armed forces under certain previous advertisements.
A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad said it will hear on December 12 a batch of pleas challenging the scheme. The bench asked Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati to segregate petitions which are challenging the Agnipath scheme and those concerning the recruitment processes for the armed forces under certain previous advertisements and file a chart before the court.
“We will first hear the Agniveer matter. The core issue here is Agniveer. This is our opinion. If this issue is decided this way or that way, it will have some bearing on other cases,” the bench said. It said the court cannot hear all the pleas together so it will first take up the Agnipath issue. “We will take it up on December 12 at 2:30 pm. Whether we are able to complete our list (of cases) by then or not, we will take this matter at 2:30 pm,” the bench added.
On a request made by advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing one of the petitioners, to hear the matter on a day-to-day basis, the bench said it will consider it. The bench said that the reply filed by the Centre is restricted only to the Agnipath scheme and does not deal with other pleas and if the government wants to add something, it can do so.