NEW DELHI: Ending years of resistance that had drawn sharp censure from the Supreme Court, the Defence Ministry on Tuesday finally cleared permanent commission for women officers in the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).
The move brings the maritime force in line with the Army, Navy and Indian Air Force (IAF), where women have long been eligible for full-tenure careers.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh unveiled the policy, alongside a second reform easing ex-gratia disbursal to families of personnel who go missing at sea.
The women’s commission policy ensures equal opportunities for career progression, commencing right from the ab-initio training phase. Crucially, it throws open a window to those already in service.
Existing women officers on Short Service Appointment (SSA) will be given the option to convert to Permanent Appointment (PA), subject to eligibility, while serving PA women officers will be considered for promotion to higher ranks.
According to the defence ministry statement issued Tuesday, Singh cast the move as reflecting the Government’s commitment to Nari Shakti and equal opportunity in the nation’s maritime security apparatus.
The reform lands with a backstory. Until now, the ICG had stood conspicuously apart from the other services, a gap the top court refused to let slide.
Hearing a plea by Commandant Priyanka Tyagi, a woman officer discharged in 2021 after 14 years of service, a bench led by then Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud had in 2024 pulled up the Centre in blunt terms, warning, “If you do not do it, we will do it.” The court branded the ICG an “outlier,” questioned its “patriarchal attitude,” and told the government pointedly, “You speak of Nari Shakti… now show it here.”
The judges had drawn a direct line to the landmark Babita Puniya (Army) and Annie Nagaraja (Navy) verdicts of 2020, which held that denying women permanent commission on grounds of physiology amounted to “sex stereotypes.”
At the time, women made up just 16 of the ICG’s roughly 1,586 officers.
The second policy targets another quieter injustice since it grants the authority to declare an ICG member missing at sea while on duty as “presumed dead” for ex-gratia purposes.
This cuts through the administrative tangle that once forced grieving families to wait indefinitely for compensation and terminal benefits.
The measure, the government said, will make sure that the families of brave personnel are not subjected to prolonged administrative delays during times of mental trauma.
